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MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

PSYCHIC FORCES

AH ACOODNT OF THE AUTHOR'S INVESTI0ATI0N8 IN

FSTCHICAL BB8EARCH, TOOBTHBB WITH THOSE

OF OTHSB BUBQPEAN SAVANTS

CAMILLE FLAMMARION

IH,r«tiar of ObaerwOory ofJovUy,
France. Author of " Tke Uh-
jbtottm," "The Atvwaphere," tie.

BOSTON
SMALL, HAYKABD AUD COMPAmr

1909

C^i/n^t, tSffT.
Bt Small, Mathamd & Ca

^. C^ 'Jioitpuu

Re who pronounces anything to be " impossible," outside
of the field of pure mathematics, is wanting in prudence.

F&15G0I8 ASAQO.

A learned pedant who laughs at the possible comes very
near being an idiot. To purposely shun a fact, and turn
one's back upon it with a supercilious smile, is to bankrupt
Truth.

Victor Hugo.

Science is under bonds, by the eternal principles of honor,
to look fearlessly in the face every problem tluU is presented
to her.

Sib Williau Troupbov.

■*•■-(

PREFACE

The subject treated in the following pages has made great
progress in the course of forty years. Now what we are con-
cerned with in p syJdca l studies is always unknown forces,
and these forces must belong to the natural order, for nature
embraces the entire universe^ and everything is therefore un-
der the sway of her sceptre.

I do not ccmceal from myself, however, that the present
work win excite discussion and bring forth legimate ob-
jections, and will only satisfy independent and unbiased in-
vestigators. But nothing is rarer upon our planet than an
mdependent and absolutely untrammelled mind, nor is any-
thing rarer than a true scientific spirit of inquiry, freed from
all personal interest Most readers will say: ^^What is
there in these studies, anyway? The lifting of tables, the
moving of various pieces of furniture, the displacement of
essy-chairs, the rising and falling of pianos, the blowing
ibout of curtains, mysterious rappings, responses to mental
questions, dictations of sentences in reverse order, apparitions
of hands, of heads, or of spectral figures, — these are only
common place trivialities or cheap hoaxes, unworthy to oc-
cupy the attention of a scientist or scholar. And what would
it all prove even if it were true ? That kind of thing does
not interest us." 4

Well, there are people upon whose heads the sky might
tumble without causing them any unusual emotion.

But I reply: What I is it nothing to know, to prove, to
see with one's own eyes, that there are unknown forces around
us I Is it nothing to study our own proper nature and our

yi MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

own faculties? Are not the mysterious problems of our
being such as are worthy to be inscribed on the program of
our investigation, and of having devoted to them laborious
nights and days ? Of course, the independent seeker gets no
thanks from anybody for his toiL But what of that ? We
work for the pleasure of working, of fathoming the secrets
of nature, and of instructing ourselves. When, in studyiisg
the double stars at the Paris Observatory and cataloguing
these celestial twins, I established for the first time a natural
classification of those distant orbs ; when I discovered stellar
systems, composed of several stars, swept onward through
inmiensity by one common impulse; when I studied the
planet Mars and compared all the observations made during
two hundred years in order to obtain at once an analysis
and a synthesis of this next-door neighbor of ours among
the planets ; when, in examining the effect of solar radiations
I created the new branch of physics to which has been given
the name ^^ radioculture " and caused variations of the most
radical and sweeping nature in the dimensions, the forms,
and the colors of certain plants; when I discovered that a
grasshopper, eviscerated and kept in straw did not die, and
that these insects can live for a fortnight after having bad
their heads cut off; when I planted in a conservatory of the
Museum of Natural History, in Paris, one of the ordinary
oaks of our woods (quercus robur), thinking that, if with-
drawn from the changes of seasons, it would always have
green leaves (a thing which everybody can prove), — when
I was doing these things I was working for my own per-
sonal pleasure ; but that is no reason why these studies have
not been useful in the developing work of science, and no
reason for their not being admitted within the scope of the
practical work of specialists.

It is the same with these psychical studies of ours; only
there is a little more passion and prejudice connected with

PBEFACE vii

them. On the one hind, the sceptics cleave fast to their
denialfly oonTinced that they know all the forces of nature,
that all mediums are hnmbugs, and all experimenters im-
beciles. On the other hand^ there are the credulous Spirit-
ualists, who imagine they always have spirits at their beck
and call in a centre-table, who evoke, with the utmost sang-
froid, the spirits of Plato, Zoroaster, Jesus Christ, St Augus-
tine, Charlemagne, Shakespeare, Xcwton, or Napoleon, and
who set about stoning me for the tenth or twentieth time,
affirming that I am sold to the Institute on account of a deep-
seated and obstinate ambition, and that I dare not declare
myself in favor of the identity of the spirits for fear of an-
noying my illustrious friends. The individuals of this class
refuse to be satisfied just as much as the first class.

So much the worse for them ! I insist on only saying what
I know ; but I do say this.

And if what I know is displeasing, so much the worse for
the prejudices, the general ignorance, and the good breeding
of these distinguished gentry, in whose eyes the maximum
of happiness consists in an increase of their fortune, the
pursuit of lucrative places, sensual pleasures, automobile-
racing, a box at the Opera, or five-o'clock teas at a fashion-
able restaurant, and whose lives are frittered away along
paths that never cross those of the rapt idealist, and who
never know the pure satisfaction of his mind and heart, or
the pleasures of thought and feeling.

As for me, a humble student of the prodigious problem
of the universe, I am only a seeker. What are we? We
have scarcely shed a ray more of light on this point than at
the time when Socrates laid down, as a principle, the maxim.
Know thyself, — notwithstanding we have measured the dis-
tances of the stars, analyzed the sun, and weighed the worlds
of space. Does it stand to reason that the knowledge of our-
selves should interest us less than that of the macrocosm, the

'».

^irv^*: » c.:_..^

Vlll

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

external world t It is not credible. Let us therefore study
on, convinced that all sincere research will further the prog-
ress of humanity.

Juvisy Observatory, December, 1906.

CONTENTS

Faob

Irbo0UOI1oh xiii

L On Certain Unknown Natoral ForoM 1

IL My First Stances In The Allen Kardec Group, And

With The Medioms Of That Epoch 24

UL My Experiments With Eosapia Paladino 63

IV. Other Stances \^th Eosapia Paladino 185

V. Frands, Tricks, Deceptions, Impostures, Feats Of

Legerdemain, Mystifications, Impediments . . 194

VI. The Experiments Of Count De Gasparin .... 229

VIL The Beseardies Of Professor Thury 266

Tm. The Experiments Of The Dialectical Society Of

London 289

IX. The Experiments Of Sir William Crookes .... 306

X. Sundry Experiments And Observations 352

XI. My General Inquiry Respecting Observations Of

Unexplained Phenomena 376

Xn. Explanatory Hypotheses — Theories And Doctrines

— Conclusions Of The Author 406

IiDxx 455

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate L CoBidete Laritatkm of a Table in Profeaaor
Flammaiioo'a Salon thitxigli Mediomahip of £oaapia
Pdadlno Faehigpa^ 8

Date n. Hooae of Zoroa s tre of Jopiter from Somnamba-
Iiatie Drawing bj Viotorien SardoQ . . . After page K

Plate nL Animab' Qoartera. Home of Zoroaatre of
Jupiter from Somnambnliatic Drawing by Vietorien
Saidoa AJI/erfo/ge 26

Figure 1 . Tbe Inclination of the Syatem of Uranua . Paqe 54

Figure la. Orbtto of Satellitea of Uranus as Seen from the
Earth Pa/ge 56

FSate lY. Flaater Cast of Imprint Made in PaUy withoat
Contact by the Mediam Euaapia Paladino . After page 76

Plate v. Eoaapia Paladino, Showing Reaemblance to the
Imprint in Potty After page 76

Plate VL Photographs Taken by M. 6. de Fontenay of an
Experiment in Table Leritetion .... Fcu:ing page 82

FUte Vn. Plaster Caste of Impressions in Clay Produced
by an Unknown Force Facing page 138

nateVm. Drawing from Photograph, Showing Method
of Control by Professors Lombroso and Richet of Euaapia.
Table Comj^etely Raiaed Facing page 154

Plate DL Photographs of Levitetion of Table Accompany-
ing Cdonel De Rochas' Report .... Facing page 174

Plate X. Scalea Used in ^Professor Flammarion's Experi-
mente Facing page 200

<• -J.«

Xil LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate XL Method Used by Eusapia to Surreptitionsly Free
her Hand Facing page 206

Plate Xn. Cage of Copper Wire, Electrically Chaiged,
Used by Professor Crookes in the Home Accordion
Experiment Facing page 808

Figure 8. Board and Scale Experiment of Sir William
Crookes Page 812

Figures 4 and 5. Instruments Used in Scale Experiment
by Sir William Crookes Page 5

Figure 6. Glass Vessel Used by Home .... Page 818

Figure 7. Automatically Registered Chart of Unknown
Force Grenerated by Mr. Home Page 817

Figures 8, 9, 10. Charts from Sir William Crookes Instru-
ments Used in Experiments with Mr. Home . . Page 821

Figures 11 and 12. Third Instrument Devised by Sir
William Crookes for Recording Automatically the Un-
known Force Grenerated by Home Page 822

Figures 18. Charts Made by Third Instrument . Page 828

Figures 14 and 15. Charts Made by Third Instrument Page 824

Plate Xin. Instantaneous Photograph Taken by M. de
Fontenay of Table Levitatlon Produced by the Medium
Auguste Politi • • • Facing page 868

INTRODUCTION

As long ago as 1865 I pnUiahed, under the title^ Unknown
Natural Farces, a little monograph of a hundred and fifty
pages which is still oooasionally found in the book-shops, but
has not been reprinted. I reprint here (pp. xiii-xxiii), what I
wrote at that time in this critical study ^'apropos of the
phenomena produced by the Davenport brothers and medi-
ums in general" It was published by Didier & Ca, book-
sellers to the Academy, who had already issued my first two
works. The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds and Imaginary
Worlds and Real Worlds,

^^ France has just been engaged in au exciting debate,
where the sound of voices was drowned in a great uproar,
tnd out of which no conclusion has emerged. A disputation
more noisy than intelligent has been raging around a whole
group of unexplained facts, and so completely muddled the
problem that, in place of illuminating it, the debate has only
serred to shroud it in deeper darkness.

"During the discussion a singular remark was fre-
quently heard, to the effect that those who shouted the loud-
est in this court of assize were the very ones who were least
informed on the subject. It was an amusing spectacle to see
these persons in a death-grapple with mere phantoms.
Panurge himself would have laughed at it.

" The result of the matter is that less is known to-day up-
on the subject in dispute than at the opening of the debates.
" In the mean time, seated upon neighboring heights were
eertain excellent old fellows who observed the writs of arrest

• • •

Xlll

M T -m^^wmt I

xiv MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

issued against the more violent combatants^ but who remained
for the most part grave and silent, though they occasionally
smiled, and withal did a deal of hard thinking.

^^ I am going to state what weight should be given to the
opinions of those* of us who do not rashly affirm the impossi-
bility of the facts now put imder the ban and who do not add
their voices to the dominant note of opposition/

^* I do not conceal from myself the consequences of such
sincerity. It requires a good deal of boldness to insist on
affirming, in the name of positive science, the possibiijty of
these phenomena (wrongly styled supernatural), and to con-
stitute one's self the champion of a cause apparently ridicu-
lous, absurd, and dangerous, knowing, at the same time, that
the avowed adherents of said cause have little standing in
science, and that even its eminent partisans only venture to
speak of their approval of it with bated breath. However,
since the matter has just been treated momentarily in
fugitive writings by a group of journalists whose exacting
labors wholly forbid a study of the psychic and physical
forces ; and since, of all this multitude of writers, the greater
part have only heaped error upon error, puerility upon ex-
travagance; and since it appears from every page they have
written (I hope they will pardon me) that not only are
they ignorant of the very a, h, c of the subject they have
80 fantastically treated, but their opinions upon this class
of facts rest upon no basis whatever, — therefore I have
thought it would serve a purpose if I should leave, as a sou-
venir of the long wrangle, a piece of writing better based
and buttressed than the lucubrations of the above-mentioned
gentlemen. As a lover of truth, I am willing to face a thou-
sand reproaches. Be it distinctly understood that I do not ^
for a moment deem my judgment superior to that of my <
confreres, some of whom are in other respects highly gifted, j
The simple fact is that they are not familiar with this sub-

INTRODUCTION xr

ject, bat are straying in it at random^ wandering through
a strange region. They misunderstand the very terminol-
ogy, and inoagine that facts long ago well authenticated are
impoesible. By way of contrast, the writer of these lines
will state that for several years he has been engaged in dis-
cnssioiis and experiments upon the subject. (I am not
speaking of historical studies. )

*^ Moreov e r, although the old saw would have us believe
that 'it is not always desirable to state the truth/ yet, to
flpeak frankly, I am so indignant at the overweening pre-
somption of certain polemical opponents, and at the gall
they have injected into the debate, that I do not hesitate to
rise and point out to the deceived public that, without a
fmgle exception, all the arguments brought up by these
writers, and upon which they have boldly planted their ban-
ner of victory, prove absolutely nothing, notiiino, against
the possible truth of the things which they, in the fury of
their denial, have so per\'erted. Such a snarl of opinions
must be analyzed. In brief, the tnie must be disentangled
from the false. Veritas, Veritas! "

** I hasten to anticipate a criticism on the part of my read-
en by apprising them, on the threshold of this plea, that I
•m not going to take the Davenport brothers as my subject,
hot only as the ostensible motive or pretext of the discus-
nan, — as they have been, for that matter, of the majority
of the discussions. I shall deal in these pages with the facts
brought to the surface again by these two Americans, —
facts inexplicable (which they have put on the stage at Herz
Hall here in Paris, but which none the less existed before
tiiia mise^nrscene, and which none the less will exist even
ihcmld the Davenport brothers' representations prove to be
eounterfeit), — things which others had already exhibited,
nd still exhibit with as much facility and under much bet-
ter conditions; occurrences, in short, which constitute the

xvi MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

domain of the unknown forces to which have been giyen,
one after another, five or six names explaining nothing.
These forces, mind yon, are as real as the attraction of
gravitation, and as invisible as that. It is about facts that
I here concern myself. Let them be brought to the light by
Peter or by Paul, it concerns us little ; let them be imitated
by Sosie * or parodied by Harlequin, still less does it con-
cern us. The question is. Do these facts exist, and do they
enter into the category of known physical forces ?

** It amazes me^ eveiy time I think of it, that the majority
of men are so densely ignorant of the psychic phenomena in
question, considering the fact that they have been known,
studied, valued, and recorded for a good long time now by
all who have impartially followed the movement of thought
during the last few lustrums.

** I not only do not make common cause with the Daven-
port brothers, but I ought furthermore to add that I con-
sider them as placed in a veiy compromising situation. In
laying to the account of the supernatural matters in occult
natural philosophy which have a tolerable resemblance to
feats of prestidigitation, they appear to a curious public
to add imposture to insolence. In setting a financial value
upon their talents, they seem to the moralist, who is investi-
gating still unexplained phenomena, to place themselves on
the level of mountebanks. Whatever way you look at them,
they are to blame. Accordingly, I condemn at once
both their grave error in assuming to be superior to the
forces of which they are only the instruments and the venal
profit they draw from powers of which they are not master
and which it is no merit of theirs to possess. In-*ray opin-
ion, it is a piece of exaggeration to draw conclusions from

* Sosle is a character In Flautug and Molidre. Hermes takes Sosie's
form, and, when the latter sees his douhle, he almost doubts his own
identity. So the word came to mean a counterpart, a double, one's
alter ego. — Trans,

INTEODITCnON zrU

tlMBB unhappy semUanoes of truth; and it is to abdicate
€06*8 ri^t of private judgment to make one's self but the
scho of the vulgar herd who hiss and about themselves hoarse
before the curtain rises. No^ I am not the advocate of the
two brothers, nor of their personal claims. For me, indi-
vidual men do not exist That which I defend is the su-
periority of nature to us: that which I fight against is the
coneeited silliness of certain persons.

" You satirical gentlemen will have the frankness, I hope,
to confess with me that the different reasons pleaded by jou
in explanation of these problems are not so solid as they
appear to beu Since yom have discovered nothing, let us ad-
mit, between ourselves, that your explanations explain noth-
mg:

'^ I do not doubt that, at the point in the discussion which
we have actually reached, you would like to change roles
with me, and, stopping me here, constitute yourselves in turn
my questioners.

"But I hasten to anticipate your proposal. As for me,
gentlemen, I am not sufficiently well informed to explain
these mysteries. I pass my life in a retired garden belong-
ing to one of the nine Muses, and my attachment to this fair
creature is such that I have scarcely ever quitted the ap-
proaches to her temple. It is only at intervals, in moments
of relaxation or curiosity, that I have allowed my eyes to
wander, from time to time, over the landscapes which sur-
roond it. Therefore ask me nothing. I am making a sin-
cere confession. I know nothing of the cause of these
jdienomena.

" Yoa-see how modest I am. All I wanted in undertak-
ing this examination was to have the opportunity of saying
this:
" You know nothing about it.
'' Neither do I.

xvtti MTSTERIOtJS PSYCHIC FORCES

'^ If you acknowledge this^ we can shake hands. And, if
you are tractable, I will tell you a little secret.

^^ In the month of June, 1776 (few among us remember
it), a young man twenty-five years old, named Jouffroy, was
making a trial trip on the river Doubs of a new steamboat
forty feet in length and six feet in breadth. For two years
he had been calling the attention of scientific authorities to
his invention; for two years he had been stoutly asserting
that there is a powerful latent energy in steam, — at that
time a neglected asset All ears were deaf to his words.
His only reward was to be completely isolated and neglected.
When he passed through the streets of Baume-les-Dames,
his appearance was the signal for jests innumerable. He
was dubbed 'JouflFroy, the Steam Man' (J Jouffroy 4(jh
Pompe '). Ten years later, having built a pyroscaphe [lit-
erally, fireboat] which had ascended the Saone from Lyons
to the island of Barbe, he presented a petition to Calonne,
the comptroUer^neral of finance, and to the Academy of
Sciences. They would not look at his invention I

^^ On August 9, 1803, Fulton went up the Seine in a new
steamboat at the rate of about four miles an hour. The
members of the Academy of Sciences as well as government
ofiicials were present on the occasion. The next day they
had forgotten all about it, and Fulton went to make the
fortunes of Americans.

'^ In 1791 an Italian at Bologna, named Galvani, having
hung on the iron railing outside his window some skinned
frogs which had been used in making a bouillon for his wife,
noted that they moved automatically, although they had
been killed since the evening before. The thing was in-
credible, so everybody to whom he told it opposed his state-
ment. Men of sense would have thought it beneath their
dignity to take the trouble to verify the story, so convinced
were they of its impossibility. But Galvani had noted that

INTRODUCTION

the fnaTJiniiin of effect was attained when he joined the
fannbar nerree and the enda of the feet of a frog by a metallic
are of tin and copper. The frog's muscles then jerked con-
ruhiveij. He believed it was due to a nervous fluid, and
io lost the f rait of his investigations. It was reserved for
.Ydta to discover eleetrici^.

^ And to-day the globe is threaded with a network of trains
drawn by flame-breathing dragons. Distances have disap-
pearedy annihilated by improvements in the locomotive. The
gmiua of man has contracted the dimensions of the earth;
the kmgett voyages are but excursions over definite lines
(the curved paths of the ' ocean lanes ') ; the most gigantic
tasks axe acccmiplished by the tireless and powerful hand
cf this unknown force. A tel^raphic despatch flies in the
twinkling of an eye from one continent to another; a man
can talk virith a citizen of London or St. Petersburg without
getting out of his arm-chair. And these wonders attract
no special notice. We little think through what struggles,
bitter disappointments and persecutions they came into be-
ing! We forget that the impossible of yesterday is the
acoomplished fact of to-day. So it comes to pass that we
still find men who come to us saying: ^Halt there, you
little fellows! We don't understand you, therefore you
don't know what you're talking about'

" Very well, gentlemen. However narrow may be your
opinions, there is no reason for thinking that your myopia
is to spread over the world. You are hereby informed that,
in spite of you and in spite of your obscurantism and ob-
Btruction tactics, the car of human progress will roll on and
continue its triumphal march and conquest of new forces
snd powers. As in the case of Galvani's frog^ the laughable
occurrences that you refuse to believe reveal the existence
of new unknown forces. There is no effect without a cause.
Han is the least known of all beings. We have learned

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

how to measure the sun, cross the deeps of space, analyze the
light of the stars, and yet have not dropped a plummet into
our own souls. Man is dual, — homo duplex; and this
double nature remains a mystery to him. We think: what
is thought} No one can say. We walk: what is that or-
ganic act} No one knows. My will is an immaterial force;
all the faculties of my soul are immateriaL Nevertheless,
if I will to move my arm, my will moves matter. How
does it act } What is the mediator between mind and mus-
cle } As yet no one can say. Tell me how the optic nerve
transmits to the thinking brain the perception of outward
objects. Tell me how thought is born, where it resides^ ^at
is the nature of cerebral action. Tell me — but no, gentle-
men: I could question you for ten years on a stretch, and
the most eminent of you could not answer the least of my
interrogatories.

^'We have here, as in the preceding cases, the unknown
element in a problem. I am far from claiming that the
force that comes into play in these phenomena can one day
be financially exploited, as in the case of electricity and
steam. Such an idea has not the slightest interest for me.
But, though differing essentially from these forces, the mys-
terious psychic force none the less exists.

'^ In the course of the long and laborious studies to whicH
I have consecrated many a night, as a relief or by-play in
more important work, I have always observed in these phe-
nomena the action of a force the properties of which are to
us unknown. Sometimes it has seemed to me analogous to
that which puts to sleep the magnetized subject under the
will of the hypnotizer (a reality this, also slighted even by
men of science). Again, in other circumstances, it has
seemed to me analogous to the curious freaks of the light-
ning. Still, I believe I can afiSrm it to be a force distinct

INTRODXTCTION xxl

from all that we know, and which more than any other re-
aemUes intelligenoe.

^A certain lavant with whom I am acquainted, M.
Fiemjy of the Institutei has recently presented to the Acad-
emy of Science, apropos of spontaneous generation, sub-
stances whidi he has called semirorganic. I believe I am
not perpetrating a neologism bolder than this when I say
that the force of which I am speaking has seemed to me
to belong to the semirintelUctual plane.

^ Some years ago I gave these forces the name psychic.
That name can be justified.

^ But words are nothing. They often resemble cuirasses,
hiding the real impression that ideas should produce in
OS. That is the reason why it is perhaps better not to name
a thing that we are not yet able to define. If we did, we
should find ourselves so shackled afterwards as not to have
perfect freedom in our conclusions. It has often been seen
in history that a premature hypothesis has arrested the prog-
ress of science, says Grove : ^ When natural phenomena
are observed for the first time, a tendency immediately arises
to relate them to something already known. The new phe-
nomenon may be quite remote from the ideas with which
one would compare it. It may belong to a diflFerent order
of analogies. But this distinction cannot be perceived, nince
the necessary data or co-ordinates are lacking.' Now the
theory originally announced is soon accepted by the public;
and when it happens that subsequent facts, difiFerent from
the preceding, fail to fit the mould, it is difficult to enlarge
this without breaking it, and people often prefer to abandon
a theory now proved erroneous, and silently ignore the in-
tractable facts. As to the special phenomena in question in
this little volume, I find them implicitly embodied in three
words uttered nearly twenty centuries ago, — mens aoitat
icoL£M (mind acting on matter gives it life and mo-

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

tion) ; and I leave the phenomena embedded in these words^
like fire in the flint I will not strike with the steel, for the
spark is still dangerous. * PericuLosum est credere el nan
credere ' (^ It is dangerous to believe and not to believe '),
says the ancient fabulist Phsodrus. To deny facts a priori
is mere conceit and idiocy. To accept them without invest!*
gation is weakness and folly. Why seek to press on bo
eagerly and prematurely into regions to which our poor
powers cannot yet attain? The way is full of snares and
bottomless pits. The phenomena we are treating in these
pages do not perhaps throw new light upon the solution of
the great problem of immortality, but they invite us to re-
member that there are in man elements to study, to deter-
mine, to analyze, — elements still unexplained, and which
belong to the psychic realm.

^^ There has been much talk about Spiritualism in connec-
tion with these phenomena. Some of its defenders have
thought to strengthen it by supporting it on so weak a basis
as that. The scoffers have thought they could positively
ruin the creed of the psychics^ and, hurling it from its base,
bury it under a fallen wardrobe (I'eboulement d'une
mrmoire).* Now the first-named have rather compromised
than assisted the cause: the others have not overturned it
after all. Even if it should be proved that Spiritualism
consists only of tricks of legerdemain, the belief in the ex-
istence of souls separate from the body would not be affected
in the slightest d^ree. Besides, the deceptions of mediums
do not prove that they are always tricky. They only put
us on our guard, and induce us to keep a stem watch upon
them.

^^ As to the psychological question of the soul and the an-

*ThiB seems to be a reference to the wardrobe used by the early
SpiritualistB as a cabinet in their demoQstri^tioQs in public halls. — Tran9,

INTRODUCTION zziU

aljmB of spiritnal forces, we are jtist where chemistry was at
the tune of Albert the Great: we don't know.

^' Can we not then keep the golden mean between negation,
wfaidi denies all, and credulity, which accepts allt Is it
zational to deny eveiything that we cannot understand, or,
on the contrary, to believe all the follies that morbid imagi-
nations give birth to, one after another? Can we not pos-
at (Mice the humility which becomes the weak and tho
^ich becomes the strong t

^ I end this plea, as I began it, by declaring that it is not
for the sake of the brothers Davenport, nor of any sect, nor
of any group, nor, in short, of any person whatever, that
I have entered the lists of controversy, but solely for the
sake of facts the reality of which I ascertained several years
ago, without having discovered their cause. However, I
have no reason to fear that those who do not know me will
take a fancy to misrepresent my thought; and I think that
those who are acquainted with me know that I am not accus-
tomed to swing a censer in any one's honor. I repeat for
the last time: I am not concerned with individuals. My
mind seeks the truth, and recognizes it wherever it finds
it ' Gallus escam qiuBrens margarilam reperiL" *

A certain number of my readers have been for some time
kindly expressing a wish for a new edition of this early
book. But strictly speaking I could not do this without
considerably enlarging my original plan and composing an
entirely new woi^ The daily routine of my astronomical
labors has constantly hindered me from devoting myself to
that task. The starry heaven is a vast and absorbing field of
work, and it is difficult to turn aside (even for a relaxation in
itself scientific) from the exacting claims of a science which
goes on developing imceasingly at a most prodigious rate.

Still, the present work may be considered as, in a sense,

*The cock scratching for grain fLnda a pearl.

xxiv MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

an enlarged edition of the earlier one. The foregoing cita-
tion of a little book written for the purpose of proving the
existence of unknown forces in nature has seemed to me
necessary here; useful in this new volume, brought out
for the same purpose after more than forty years of study,
since it may serve to show the continuity and consistent
development of my thought on the subject.

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

CHAPTER I
ov cxsTAnr uhxhowh vatubal foioxs

I purpose to show in this book what truth there is in the
phenomena of taUe-tumings, taUe-moring^ and table-rap*
pngBy in the communications received th er e f rom^ in levita-
tioDB that contradict the laws of gravity, in the moving of
objects without oontacty in unexplained noises, in the stories
told of haunted houses, — all to be considered from the phys-
ical and mechanical point of view. Under all the just men-
tioned heads we can group material facts produced by causes
tdU unknown to science, and it is with these physical pbe-
iwmena that we shall specially occupy ourselves here ; for the
first point is to definitely prove, by sufficient observations,
their real existence. Hypotheses, theories, doctrines, will
onne later.

In the country of Rabelais, of Montaigne, of Voltaire, we
ue inclined to smile at everything that relates to the mar-
Telkms, to tales of enchantment, the extravagances of oceult-
ian, the mysteries of magic. ' This arises from a reasonable
prudence. But it does not go far enough. To deny and
prejudge a phen<nnenon has never proved anything. The
tntth of almost every fact which constitutes the sum of the
positive sciences of our day has been denied. What we
OQ^t to do is to admit no unverified statement, to apply
to every subject of study, no matter what, the experimental
inethod, without any preconceived idea whatever, either for
or against

2 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

We are dealing here with a great problem, which touches
on that of the survival of human consciousness. We may
study it, in spite of smiles.

When we consecrate our lives to an idea, useful, noble,
exalted, we should not hesitate for a moment to sacrifice
personalities; above all, our own self, our interest, our self-
esteem, our natural vanity. This sacrifice is a criterion by
which I have estimated a good many characters. How many
men, how many women, put their miserable little person-
ality above everything else I

If the forces of which we are to treat are real, they can*
not but be natural forces. We ought to admit, as an abso-
lute principle, that everything is in nature, even Ood him-
self, as I have shown in another work. Before any attempt
at theory, the first thing to do is to scientifically establish
the real existence of these forces.

Mediumistic experiences might form (and doubtless soon
will form) a chapter in physics. Only it is a kind of tran-
scendental physics which touches on life and thought, and
the forces in play are pre-eminently living forces, psychio
forces.

I shall relate in the following chapter the experiments I
made between the years 1861 and 1865, previous to the
penning of the protest, reprinted in the long citation above
'given (in the Introduction). But, since in certain respects
they are simimed up in those I have just had, in 1906, I*
will begin by describing the latter in this first chapter.

In fact, I have recently renewed these investigations with
a celebrated medium, — Mme. Eusapia Paladino, of Naples^
who has been several times in Paris ; namely, in 1898, 1905,
and, very recently, in 1906. The things I am going t0
speak of happened in the salon of my home in Paris, — the
last ones in full light without any preparation, very simply^
as if during after-dinner talks.

UNKNOWN NATUBAL FORCES 3

Let me add that this medium came to Paris during the
firat months of the year, 1906, at the invitation of the
Psychological Institute, several members of which have been
recently engaged in researches begun long ago. Among
these savants I will m^ition the name of the lamented Pierre
Curie, the eminent chemist, with whom I had a conversa-
ticm a few days before his unfortunate and terrible death.
My mediumistic experiences with Mma Paladino formed
for him a new chapter in the great book of nature, and he
also was convinced that there exist hidden forces to the
investigation of which it is not unscientific to consecrate
one's sel£ His subtle and penetrating genius would per-
haps have quickly determined the character of these forces.

Those who have given some little attention to these psycho-
logical studies are acquainted with the powers of Mme. Pala-
dina The published works of Count de Rochas, of Professor
Richet, of Dr. Dariex, of M. G. de Fontenay, and nota-
bly the Annates des sciences psychiques, have pointed them
out and described them in such detail that it would be su-
perfluous to recur to them at this point. Farther on we
shall find a place for discussing them.

Running underneath all the observations of the above-men-
tioned writers, one dominant idea can be read as if in palimp-
sest; namely, the imperious necessity the experimenters are
constantly under of suspecting tricks in this medium (Mme.
Paladino). But all mediums, men and women, have to be
watdied. During a period of more than forty years I be-
lieve that I have received at my home nearly all of them,
men and women of divers nationalities and from every quar-
ter of the ^obe. One may lay it down as a principle that
an professional mediums cheat But they do not always
dieat ; and they possess real, imdeniable psychic powers.

Their case is nearly that of the hysterical folk under ob-
KTvation at the Salpetri^re or elsewhere. I have seen some

4 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

of them outwit with their profound craft not only Dr,
Charcot, but especially Dr. Luys, and all the physicians who
were making a study of their case. But, because hysteriaos
deceive and simulate, it would be a gross error to conclude
that hysteria does not exist. And, because mediums fre-
quently descend to the most brazen-faced imposture, it would
not be less absurd to conclude that mediumship has no ex-
istence. Disreputable somnambulists do not forbid the ex-
istence of magnetism, hypnotism, and genuine somnambu-
lism.

This necessity of being constantly on our guard has dil^
couraged more than one investigator, as the illustrious as-
tronomer Schiaparelli, director of the Observatory of Milan,
specially wrote me, in a letter which will appear farther on*

Still, we have got to endure this evil.

The words " fraud " (supercherie) and " trickery *^ (fri-
cherie) have in this connection a sense a little different from
their ordinary meaning. Sometimes the mediums deceive pur- -^
posely, knowing well what they are doing, and enjoying tlie
fun. But of tener they unconsciously deceivci impelled by the
desire to produce the phenomena that people are expectin|^

They help on the success of the experiment when that suc-
cess is slow in its appearance. Mediums who deal with objeo-
tive phenomena are gifted with the power of causing objecti- ;;
at a distance to move, of lifting tables, etc. But they uso*'.^^
ally appear to apply this power at the ends of their fingeng,'^
and the objects to be moved have to be within reach of theii^^
hands or feet, a very regrettable thing, and one whi
furnishes fine sport for the prejudiced sceptics. Sometini0i^
the mediums act like the billiard player, who continues
an instant the gesture of hand and arm, holding his
pointed at the rolling ivory ball, and leaning forward as
by his will he could push it to a carom. He knows very we
that he has no further power over the fate of the ball, whii

UXKXOWX XATCRAL FORCES 5

his initial stroke aloue impels ; but he guides its course by his
thought and his gesture.

It may uot be superfluous to caution the reader that the
word "medium" is employed in these pages without any
preconceived idea, and not in the etymological sense in which
it took its rise at the time of the first Spiritualidtic theories,
which affirmed that the man or the woman endowed with
psychic powers is an iutormediary between spirits and tlK«e
who are experimenting. The por^vm who hun the power
of causing objects to move contrary to the laws of gravity
(even sometimes witliout touching them), of causing sounds
to be heard at a distance and without any exertion of mus-
cular force, and of bringing before the eyes various appari-
tiona, has not necessarily, on that account, any bond of union
with disembodied minds or souls. We shall k(H*p this word
** medium," however, now so long in use. We are concerned
here only with facts. I hope to convince the reader that
these things really exist, and are neither illusions nor farces,
nor feats of prestidigitation. My object is to prove their
reality with absolute certainty, to do for thi^m what (in
my volume The Unknown and the Psyrhic Problems) I
have done for telepathy, the apparitions of the dying, pro-
monitorv dreams, and clairvovanne.

I shall Ix-gin, 1 rejieat, with exi^erinicnts wliirh I have
reccnily renewed; namely, during four seances on March
29, April 5, May 30, anil June 7, <»f 190G.

1. Take the case of the l(*vitation of a round table. I
have so often seen a rather heavy table liftetl to a height
of eight, twelve, sixteen inches from the fl(K)r, and I havo
taken such undeniably authentic photographs c)f these; I
have so often proved to myself that the snsjK'usion of tins
artiele of furniture by the iniiK»sitinn 1///0/1 It of the IuumIs
of four or five persims prodncr^s tin* ctTtct of a flt)ating
in a tub full of water or otluT ela>tic tluid, that, for iiit*,

6 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the levitation of objects is no more doubtful than that of a
pair of scissors lifted by the aid of a magnet. But one
evening when I was almost alone with Eusapia^ March 29,
1906 (there were four of us altogether), being desirous of
examining at leisure how the thing was done, I asked her
to place her hands with mine upon the table, the other per-
sons remaining at a distance. The table very soon rose
to a height of fifteen or twenty inches while we were hoth
standing. At the moment of the production of the phe-
nomenon the medium placed one of her hands on one of
mine, which she pressed energetically, our two other hands
resting side by side. Moreover, on her part, as on mine,
there was an act of will expressed in words of conunand ad-
dressed to " the spirit " : " Come now I Lift the table !
Take courage I Come 1 Try now I ^' etc.

We ascertained at once that there were two elements or
constituents present. On the one hand, the experimenters. '
address an invisible entity. On the other hand, the medium
experiences a nervous and muscular fatigue, and her wei^t
increases in proportion to that of the object lifted (but not
in exact proportion).

We are obliged to act as if there really were a being pres-
ent who is listening. This being appears to come into ex-
istence, and then become non-existent as soon as the experi-
ment is ended. It seems to be created by the medium. Is
it an auto-suggestion of hers or of the dynamic ensemble
of the experimenters that creates a special force? Is it a
doubling of her personality? Is it the condensation of a
psychic milieu in the midst of which we live ? If we seek
to obtain proofs of actual and permanent individuality, and
above all of the identity of a particular soul called up in our •
memory, we never obtain any satisfaction. There lies tha -
mystery.

UNKNOWN NATXJRAL FORCES 7

Condosion : we have here an unknown force of the peychio
dass, a living force, the life of a moment only.

May it not be poesible that, in exerting ourselves^ we give
rise to a detachment of forces which acta exteriorly to our
body! But this is not the place, in these first pages, to
make hypotheses.

The experiment of which I have just spoken was repeated
three times running, in the fvU light of a gas chandelier,
and under the same conditions of complete proof in each
case. A round table weighing about fourteen pounds is
lifted by this unknown force. A table of twenty-five or
fif^ pounds or more requires a greater number of persons.
But they will get no result if one at least among them is
not gifted with the mediumistic power.

And let me add, on the other hand, that thore in in such
an experiment so great an expouditure of nervous and uiu.s-
cular energy that such an extraordinary medium as Eusapia,
for instance, can obtain scarcely any results six hours, twelve
hours, even twenty-four hours, after a seance in which she
has so lavishly expended her psychic energy.

I will add that quite often the table continues to rise even
after the experimenters have ceased to touch it. This is
movement without contact.

This phenomenon of levitation is, to me, absolutely proved,
although we cannot explain it. It is like what would hap-
pen if one had his hands gloved with loadstone, and, placing
them on a table of iron, should lift it from the ^ound. But
the action is not so simple as that: it is a case of psychic

activity exterior to ourselves, momentarily in operation.*

*I]| order that I may at once place before the eye» of my n^aderfl
doenmentary evidence of these experiments, I reprodiu-f' hon* (PI. I)
ft photograph taken at my apartments on the 1 2th of November in
1896. Any one can perceive by the horizontality of the arniH, as weU
tt by the distance between the feet of the table and the floor, that the
cation is from six to eight inches. The precise distance is marked
<* the figure itaelf, — a measurement taken the next day by propping
^ the table, with the aid of books, in the same position as it was.

8 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

'Now how are these levitations and moYements pro-
duced?

How is it that a stick of sealing-wax or a lamp-chimney^
when rubbed, attracts bits of paper or elder pith ?

How is it that a particle of iron grips so firmly to the
loadstone when brought near itt

How is it that electricity accumulates in the vapor of
water, in the molecules of a cloud, until it gives rise to the
thunder, the thunderbolt, the lightning flash, and all their
formidable results?

How is it that the thunderbolt strips the clothes from a
man or a woman with its characteristic nonchalance ?

And (to take a simple instance), without departing from
our common and normal condition of life, how is it that we
raise our arm?

2. Take now a specimen of another group of oases. The
medium places one of her hands upon that of some per-
son, and with the other beats the air, with on^ two^
three, or four strokes or raps. The raps are heard in the
table, and you feel the vibrations at the same time that you
hear them, — sharp blows which make you think of electrie
shocks. It is superfluous to state that the feet of the me-
dium do not touch those of the table, but are kept at a difl='
tance from them.

The medium next places her hands with ours upon the
table, and the taps heard in the table are stronger than in
the preceding case.

These taps audible in the table, this "typtology" well

The medium has her two feet wholly under my riffht foot, while tt
the same time her knees are under my right hand. Her hands art
upon the table grasped by my left hand and by that of the oUmt
critical observer or *' control ' {contrdleur) , who has just placed ft
cushion before her to shield her very sensitive eyes from the flash <f
the magnesium light, and thus save her from a disagreeable nenrooi
attack.

These photographs, taken rapidly by magnesium lights are not pi^
fect| but they are records.

UNKNOWN NATURAL FORCES 9

known to SpiritnalistSy have been frequently attributed
to some kind of trickery or another, to a cracking
mnade or to various actions of the medium. After
the comparative study I have made of these special
occurrences I bdieve I am right in aflBrming that this fact
also is not less certain than the first Rappings, as is well
known, are obtained in all kinds of rhythms, and responses
to all questions are obtained through simple conventions,
hy which it is agreed, for instance, that three taps shall
meafi '' yes " and two mean ** no,'' and that, while the let-
ters of the alphabet are being read, words can be dictated by
tape made as each letter is named.

3. During our experiments, while we four persons are
seated around a table asking for a communication which
does not arrive, an arm-chair, placed about twenty-four
inches from the medium's foot (upon which I have placed
my foot to make sure that she cannot use hers), — an arm-
chair, I say, begins to move, and comos sliding up to us.
I push it back; it returns. It is a stuffed affair (pouf),
very heavy, but easily capable of glidiiifr ovct the floor.
This thing happened on the 29th of last March, and again
on April 5tlL

It could have been done by drawing the chair with a string
or by the medium putting her foot sufficiently far out.
But it happened over and over again (five or six times),
automatically moving, and that so violently that tlio chair
jumped about the floor in a topsy-turvy fashion and ended
by falling bottom side up without anybody having touched
it

4. Here is a fourth case re-observed this year, after hav-
ing been several times verified by me, notably in 1898.

Curtains near the medium, but which it is impossible for
her to touch, either with the hand or the foot, swell out their
whole length, as if inflated by a gusty wind. I have several

10 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

times seen them envelop the heads of the spectators as if with
oowls of Capuchin monks.

5. Here is a fifth instance, authenticated by me several
times, and always with the same care.

While I am holding one hand of Eusapia in mine, and one
of my astronomical friends, tutor at the Ecole Polytechnique,
is holding the other, we are touched, first one and then the
other, upon the side and on the shoulders, as if by an in-
visible hand.

The medium usually tries to get together her two hands,
held separately by each of us, and by a skilful substitution to
make us believe we hold both when she has succeeded in dia-
engaging one. This fraud being well known by us, we
act the part of forewarned spectators, and are positive that
we have each succeeded in holding her hands apart. The
touchings in this experiment seem to proceed from an in-
visible entity and are rather disagreeable. Those which
take place in the immediate vicinity of the medium could bo
due to fraud ; but to some of them this explanation is inap-
plicable.

This is the place to remark that, unfortunately, the ex-
traordinary character of the phenomena is in direct ratio with
the absence of light, and we are continually asked by the me-
dium to turn down the gas, almost to the vanishing point:
'' Meno luce! menoluce! '' (" Less light, less light "). This,
of course, is advantageous to all kinds of fraud. But it is a
condition no more obligatory than the others. There is in
it no implication of a threat.

We can get a large number of mediumistic phenomena
with a light strong enough for us to distinguish things with
certainty. Still, it is a fact that light is unfavorable to the
production of phenomena.

This is annoying. Yet we have no right to impose the
opposite condition. We have no right to demand of nature

XINKNOWN NATURAL FORCES 11

oonditions which happen to suit us. It would be just as rea-
sellable to try to get a photographic negative without a dark
room, or to draw electricity from a rotating machine in the
midst of an atmosphere saturated with moisture. Light is
a natural agent capable of producing certain e£Fects and of
opposing the production of others.

This aphorism calls to my mind an anecdote in the life
of Daguerre, related in the first edition of this book.

One evening this illustrious natural philosopher meets an
el^ant and fashionable woman in the neighborhood of the
Opera House, of which he was at that time the decorator.
Enthusiastic over his progress in natural philosophy, he hap-
pens to speak of his photogenic studies. He tells her of a
marvellous discovery by which the features of the face can
be fixed upon a plate of silver. The lady, who is a person
of plain common sense, courteously laughs in his face. The
savant goes on with his story, without being disconcerted.
He even adds that it is possible for the phenomenon to take
place instantaneously when the processes become perfected.
But he has his pains for his trouble. His charming com-
panion is not credulous enough to accept such an extrava-
gance. Paint without colors and without a brush! design
without pen or crayon! as if a portrait could get painted
all by itself, etc But the inventor is not discouraged, and,
to convince her, offers to make her portrait by this process.
The lady is unwilling to be thought a dup>e and refuses. But
the skilful artist pleads his cause so well that he overcomes
her objections. The blond daughter of Eve consents to pose
before the object-glass. But she makes one condition, —
only one.

Her beauty is at its best in the evening, and she feels a
little faded in the garish light of day.

" If you could take me in the evening — '*
"But, madame, it is impossible — "

13 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

" Why ? You say that your invention reproduces the
face, feature by feature. I prefer my features of the even-
ing over those of the morning."

^^ Madame, it is the light itself which pencils the image^
and without it I can do nothing."

^' We will light a chandelier, a lamp, do anything to please
you."

" No, madame, the light of day is imperative."

" Will you please tell me why ? "

'^ Because the light of the sun exhibits an intense activity,
sufficient to decompose the iodide of silver. So far, I have
not been able to take a photograph except in full sunlight"

Both remained obstinate, the lady maintaining that what
could be done at ten o'clock in the morning could also easily
be done at ten o'clock in the evening. The inventor affirmed
the contrary.

So, then, all you have to do, gentlemen, is to forbid the
light to blacken iodine, or order it to blacken lime, and con-
demn the photographer to develop his negative in full light
Ask Electricity why it will pass instantaneously from one
end to the other of an iron wire a thousand miles long and
why it refuses to traverse a. thread of glass half an inch
long. Beg the night-blooming flowers to expand in the day,
or those that only bloom in the light not to close at dusk.
Give me the explanation of the respiration of plants, diurnal
and nocturnal, and of the production of chlorophyll and how
plants develop a green color in the light ; why they breathe
in oxygen and exhale carbonic acid gas during the night,
and reverse the process during the day. Change the equiva-
lents of simple substances in chemistry, and order combina-
tions to be produced. Forbid azotic acid to boil at the freez-
ing temperature, and command water to boil at zero. You
have only to ask these accommodations and nature will obey
^u, gentlemen, depend upon it

UNKNOWN NATURAL FOBCES 18

A good many phenomena of nature only occur in ol^
scuri^. The germs of plants, animals, man, in forming a
new beings woric their miracle only in the dark.

Herey in a flask, is a mixture of hydrogen and chlorine in
equal yolumes. If you wish to preserve the mixture, you
must keep the flask in the dark, whether you want to or
not Such is the law. As long as it remains in the dark,
it will retain its properties. But suppose you take a school-
boy notion to expose the thing to the action of light In-
stantly a violent explosion is heard; the hydrogen and the
chlorine disappear, and you find in the flask a new substance,
— chloridio acid* There is no use in your finding fault:
darkness respects the two substances, while light explodes
them*

If we should hear a malignant sceptic of some clique or
other say, " I will only believe in jack-o'-lanterns when I
see them in the light of day," what should we think of his
sanity ! About what we should think if he should add that
the stars are not certainties, since they are only seen at night.

In all the observations and experiments of physics there
are conditions to be observed. In those of which we are
speaking a too strong light seems to imperil the success of
the experiment But it goes without saying that precau-
tions against deception ought to increase in direct ratio with
the decrease of visibility and other means of verification.

Let us return to our experiments.

6. Taps are heard in the table, or it moves, rises, falls
bad^ raps with its leg. A kind of interior movement is
produced in the wood, violent enough, sometimes, to break
it The round table I made use of (with others) in my
home was dislocated and repaired more than once, and it
was by no means the pressure of the hands upon it that could
iiirve caused the dislocations. No, there is something more

14 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

than that in it : there is in the actions of the table the inter-
vention of mind, of which I have already spoken.

The table is questioned, by means of the conventional
signs described a few pages back, and it responds. Phrases
are rapped out, usually banal and without any literary, sci-
entific, or philosophical value. But, at any rate, words are
rapped out, phrases are dictated* These phrases do not come
of their own accord, nor is it the medium who taps them —
consciously — either with her foot or her hand, or by the aid
of a snapping muscle, for we obtain them in seances held
without professional mediums and at scientific reunions
where the existence of trickery would be a thing of the
greatest absurdity. The mind of the medium and that of
the experimenters most assuredly have something to do with
the mystery. The replies obtained generally tally the in-
tellectual status of the company, as if the intellectual facul-
ties of the persons present were exterior to their brains and
were acting in the table wholly unknown to the experimenters
themselves. How can this thing be ? How can we compose
and dictate phrases without knowing it. Sometimes the
ideas broached seem to come from a personality imknown
to the company, and the hypothesis of spirits quite naturally
presents itself. A word is begun; some one thinks he can
divine its ending; to save time, he writes it down; the table
parries, is agitated, impatient It is the wrong word; an-
other was being dictated. There is here, then, a psychic
element which we are obliged to recognize, whatever its na-
ture may be when analyzed.

The success of experiments does not always depend on the
will of the medium. Of course that is the chief element in
it; but certain conditions independent of her are necessary.
The psychical atmosphere created by the persons present has
an influence that cannot be neglected. So the state of health
of the medium is not without its influence. If he is fatigued.

UNKNOWN NATUBAL FORCES 15

althou^ he may have the best will in the world, the value
of the xesolts will be affected I had a new proof of this
thing, so often observed, at my housei with Eusapia Pala-
dino, on May 30, 1906. She had for more than a month
been suffering from a rather painful affection of the eyes;
and fnrthermore her legs were considerably swollen. We
were seven, of whom two looker»<m were sceptics. The re-
sults were almost nil; namely, the lifting, during scarcely
two seconds of time, of a round table weighing about four
pounds; the tipping up of one side of a four-Icggcd table;
and a few rappings. Still, the medium seemed animated by
a real wish to obtain some result. She confessed to me, bow-
ever, that what had chiefly paralyzed her faculties was the
sceptical and sarcastic spirit of one of the two incredulous
persons. I knew of the absolute scrptiei^m of tins man.
It had not been manifested in any way; but KtLsapia liad
at once divined it

The state of mind of the by-standors, sympathetic or anti-
pathetic, has an influence upon the production of the phe-
nomena. This is an incontestable matter of obaervation. I
am not speaking here merely of a tricky medium rendered
powerless to act by a too close critical inspection, but also
of a hostile force which may more or less neutralize tho
sincerest volition. Is it not the same, moreover, in assem-
blies, large or small, in conferences, in salons, etc. ? Do wo
not often see persons of baleful and antipathetic spirit do-
feat at their veiy beginning tho accomplishment of the
noblest purposes.

Here are the results of another sitting of the same medium
held a few days afterwards.

On the 7th of June, 1906, I had lx»en iiifonried by my
friend Dr. Ostwalt, the skilled oculist, who was at that time
treating Eusapia, that she was to be at his house that even-
ing and that perhaps I would be able to try a new cxperi-

16 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

xnent. I accepted with all the more readiness because the
mother-in-law of the doctor, Mme. Werner, to whom I had
been attached by a friendship of more than thirty years,
had been dead a year, and had many a time promised me,
in the most formal manner, to appear after her death for
the purpose of giving completeness to my psychical re-
searches by a manifestation, if the thing was possible. We
had so often conversed on these subjects, and she was so
deeply interested in them, that she had renewed her prom-
ise very emphatically a few days before her death. And
at the same time she made a similar promise to her daughter
and to her son-in-law.

Eusapia, also^ on her part, grateful for the care she had
received at the doctor's hands and for the curing of her
eye, wished to be agreeable to him in any way she could.

The conditions, then, were in all respects excellent I
agreed with the doctor that we had before us four possible
hypotheses, and that we should seek to fix on the most proba-
ble one.

a. What would take place might be due to fraud, con-
scious or unconscious.

h. The phenomena might be produced by a physical force
emanating from the medium.

c. Or by one or several invisible entities making use of
this force.

d. Or by Mme. Werner herself.

We had on that evening some movements of the table and
a complete lifting of the four feet to a height of about
eight inches. Six of us sat around the table, — Eusapia,
Madame and Monsieur Ostwalt, their son Pierre, sixteen
years old, my wife and myself. Our hands placed above
the table scarcely touched it, and were almost wholly de-
tached at the moment it rose from the floor. No fraud pos-
sible. Full light

UlSTKNOWN NATURAL FORCES 17

The fl^anoe then oontinoed in the dark. The two por-
tieres of a great douUe-folding door, against which the me-
dium was seated, her back to the door, were blown about
for nearly an hour, sometimes so violently as to form some-
thing like a monk's hood on the head of the doctor and that
of his wife.

This great door was several times shaken violently, and
tremendous blows were struck upon it

We tried to obtain words by means of the alphabet, but
without success. (I will remark in this connection that
Eusapia knows neither how to read nor to write.)

Pierre Ostwalt was able to write a word with the penciL
It seemed as if an invisible force was guiding his hand. The
word he pencilled down was the first name of Mme. Werner,
well knovm to him.

In spite of all our efforts, we were unable to obtain a
single proof of identity. Yet it would have been very easy
for Mme. Werner to find one, as she had so solemnly prom-
ised us to da

In spite of the announcement by raps that an apparition
would appear which we would be permitted to see, we were
only able to perceive a dim white form, devoid of precise out-
line, even when we manipulated the light so as to get al-
most complete darkness. From thifl new sitting the follow-
ing conclusions are deduced :

0. Fraud cannot explain the phenomena, especially the
levitation of the table, the violent blows and shakings given
to the door, and the projection of the curtain into the room,
b. These phenomena are certainly produced by a force
emanating from the medium, for they all occur in her imme-
diate neighborhood.

c This force is intelligent. But it is possible that this
intelligence which obeys our requests is only that of the
medium*

18 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

d. ]^othing proves that the spirit evoked had any influ-
ence.

These propositions^ however, will be examined and de-
veloped one by one in the pages that follow.

All the experiments described in this first chapter reveal
to us unknown forces in operation. It will be the same in
the chapters that follow.

These phenomena are so unexplained, so inexplicable, so
incredible, that the simplest plan is to deny them, to attrib-
ute them all to fraud or to hallucination, and to believe
that all the participators are sand-blind.

Unfortunately for our opponents, this hypothesis is inad-
missible.

Let me say here that there are very few men — and above
all, women — whose spirit is completely free; that is, in a
condition capable of accepting, without any preconceived
idea, new or unexplained facts. In general, people are dis-
posed to admit only those facts or things for which they are
prepared by the ideas they have received, cherished, and
maintained. Perhaps there is not one human being in a
hundred who is capable of making a mental record of a new
impression, simply, freely, exactly, with the accuracy of a
photographic camera. Absolute independence of judgment
is a rare thing among men.

A single fact accurately observed, even if it should con-
tradict all science, is worth more than all the hypotheses.

But only the independent minds, free from the classic
leading-strings which tie the dogmatists to their diairs,
dare to study extra-scientific facts or consider them pos-
sible.

I am acquainted with erudite men of genius, members
of the Academy of Sciences, professors at the university,
masters in our great schools, who reason in the following
way : " Such and such phenomena are impossible because

UNKNOWN NATUBAL FORCES 19

ibej are in contradiction with the actual state of acienoe.
We should only admit what we can explain."
They call that scientific reasoning!
Examples. — Frauenhofer discovers that the solar sp^c-
tnun is crossed by dark lines. These dark lines could not
be explained in his time. Therefore we ought not to be-
lieve in them.

Newton discovers that the stars move as if they were
governed by an attractive force. This attraction could not
be explained in bis time. Nor is it explained to-day. New-
ton himself takes the pains to declare that he does not vnsh
to explain it by an hypothesis. " Hypotheses nan fingo "
("I do not make hypotheses "). So, after the reasoning of
our pseudo-logicians, we ought not to admit universal gravi-
tation. Oxygen combined with hydrogen forms water.
How? We don't know. ITence we ought not to admit the
fact

Stones sometimes fall from the sky. The Academy of
Sciences of the eighteenth centurj', not l)oing able to divine
where they came from, simply denied the fact, which had
been observed for thousands of years. They denied also that
fish and toads can fall from the clouds, because it had not
then been observed that waterspouts draw them up by suction
and transport them from one place to another. A medium
places his hand upon a table and seems actually to transmit
to it independent life. It is inexplicable, therefore it is
false. Yet that is the predominant method of reasoning of
a great number of scholars. They are only willing to admit
what is known and explained. They declared that locomo-
tives would not be able to move, or, if they did succeed, rail-
ways would introduce no change in social relations; that the
transatlantic telegraph would never transmit a despatch ; that
vaccine would not render immune; and at one time they
stoutly maintained (this was long ago) that the earth does

Qpi

20 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

not revolve. It seems that they even condemned Oalilea
Everything has been denied*

Apropos of facts somewhat similar to those we are here
studying, — I mean the stigmata of Louise Lateau, — a very
famous German scholar, Professor Virchow, closed his report
to the Berlin Academy with this dilemma: Fraud or
Miracle. This conclusion acquired a classic vogue. But it
was an error, for it is now known that stigmata are due
neither to fraud nor miracl&

Another rather common objection is presented by certain
persons apparently scientific. Confounding experience with
observation, they imagine that a natural phenomenon, in
order to be real, ought to be able to be produced at will, as
in a laboratory. After this manner of looking at things,
an eclipse of the sun would not be a real thing, nor a stroke
of lightning which sets fire to a house, nor an aerolite that
falls from the sky. An earthquake, a volcanic eruption, are
phenomena of observation, not of experiment But they
none the less exist, often to the great damage of the human
race. Now, in the order of facts that we are studying here,
we can almost never experiment, but only observe, and this
reduces considerably the range of the field of study. And,
even when we do experiment, the phenomena are not pro-
duced at will: certain elements, several of which we have
not yet been able to get hold of, intervene to cross, modify,
and thwart them, so that for the most part we can only
play the role of observers. The difiFerence is analc^us to
that which separates chemistry from astronomy. In chem-
istry we experiment: in astronomy we observe. But this
does not hinder astronomy from being the most exact of the
sciences.

Mediumistic phenomena that come directly under the ob-
servation, notably those I have described some pages back,
have for me the stamp of absolute certainty and incontesta-

UNKNOWN NATURAL FORCES 21

bility, and amply suffice to prove that unknown physical
forces exist outside of the ordinary and established domain
of natural philosophy. As a principle, moreover, this is an
unimpeachable tenet*

I could adduce still other instances, for example the fol-
lowing:

7. During s&mce experiments, phantoms often appear, —
hands, arms, a head, a bust, an entire human figure. I was
1 witness of this thing, especially on July 27, 1897, at
Montfort-l'Amaury (see Chapter III). M. de Fontenay
having declared that he perceived an image or spirit over
the taUe, between himself and me (we were sitting face to
face, keeping watch over Eusapia, he holding one of her
hands, and I the other), and I seeing nothing at all, I asked
him to change places with me. And then I, too, perceived
this spirit-shadow, the head of a bearded man, rather vaguely
outlined, which was moving like a silhouette, advancing and
retiring in front of a red lantern placed on a piece of fur-
niture. I had not been able to see at first from where I sat,
because the lantern was then behind me, and the spectral ap-
pearance was formed between M. de Fontenay and me. As
this dark silhouette remained rather vague, I asked if I could
not touch its beard. The medium replied, ^^ Stretch out
your hand." I then felt upon the back of my hand the
brushing of a very soft beard.

This case did not have for me the same absolute certainty
as the preceding. There are degrees in the feeling of se-
cmtj we have in observations. In astronomy, even, there
are stars at the limit of visibility. And yet in the opin-
ion of all the participators in the stance there was no trick.
Besides, on another occasion, at my own home, I saw an-
other figure, that of a young girl, as the reader will see in
the third chapter.

* See VInetmnu, pp. 20-29.

22 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

8. That same day, at Montfort, in the course of the con-
versation, some one recalled the circumstance that the
"spirits" have sometimes impressed on paraflSn or putty
or clay the print of their head or of their hands, — a thing
that seems in the last degree absurd. But we bought some
putty at a glazier^s and fixed up in a wooden box a perfectly
soft cake. At the end of the seance there was the imprint
of a heady of a face, in this putty. In this case, no more
than in the other, am I absolutely certain tiiere was no
trickery. We will speak of it farther on.

Other manifestations will be noted in subsequent pages
of this book. Stopping right here, for the present, at the
special point of view of the proved existence of unknown
forces, I will confine myself to the six preceding cases, re-
garding them as incontestable, in the judgment of any man
of good faith or of any observer. If I have considered these
particular cases so early in the work, it is in response to
readers of my works who have been begging me for a long
time to give my personal observations.

The simplest of these manifestations — that of raps, for
example — is not a n^ligible asset. There is no doubt that
it is one or another of the experimenters, or their dynamic
resultant, that raps in the table without knowing how. So,
even if it should be a psychic entity unknown to the medi-
ums, it evidently makes use of them, of their physiological
properties. Such a fact is not without scientific interest.
The denials of scepticism prove nothing, unless it be that
the deniers themselves have not observed the phenomena.

I have no other aim in this first chapter than to give a
preliminary summary of the observed facts.

I do not desire to put forth in these first pages any ex-
planatory hypothesis. My readers will themselves form an
opinion from the narratives that follow, and the last chapter
of the volume will be devoted to theories. Yet I believe it

UNKNOWN NATUEAL FORCES 23

will be useful to call attention at onoe to the fact that matter
is not, in reality, what it appears to be to our vulgar senses, —
to our sense of touch, to our vision, — but that it is identical
with energy, and is only a manifestation of the lavement of
invisible and imponderable elements. The universe is a
dynamism* Matter is only an appearance. It will be use-
ful for the reader to bear this truth in mind, as it will help
him to oomprdiend the studies we are about to make.

The mysterious forces we are here studying are themselves
manifestations of the universal dynamism with which oui
five senses put us very imperfectly into relation.

These things belong to the psychical order as well as to the
phjsicaL They prove that we are living in the midst of an
miezplored world, in which the psychic forces play a role
as yet very imperfectly studied.

We have here a situation analogous to that in which Chris-
topher Columbus found himself on the evening of the day
when he perceived the first hints of land in the New World.
We are pushing our prow through an absolutely unknown
sea.

CHAPTER II

MY FIBST SEANCES IN THE ALLAN KASDEC OSOFP AKD WITH

THE MEDIUMS OF THAT EPOCH

One day in the month of November, 1861, under the Oale-
ries de I'Odeon,* I spied a book, the title of which struck
me, — Le Livre des E sprits ("The Book of Spirits''), by
Allan Kardec I bought it and read it with avidity, several
chapters seeming to me to agree with the scientific bases of
the book I was then writing. The Plurality of Inhabited
Worlds. I hunted up the author, who proposed that I
should enter, as a free associated member, the Parisian
Society for Spiritualistic Studies, which he had founded,
and of which he was president. I accepted, and by chance
have just found the green ticket signed by him on the fif-
teenth day of November, 1861, This is the date of my dSbut
in psychic studies. I was then nineteen, and for three years
had been an astronomical pupil at the Paris Observatory.
At this time I was putting the last touches to the book I just
mentioned, the first edition of which was published some
months afterwards by the printer-publisher of the Observa^
tory.

The members came together every Friday evening in the
assembly room of the society, in the little passageway of
Sainte Anne, which was placed under the protection of
Saint Louis. The president opened the stance by an "in-
vocation to the good spirits.'' It was admitted, as a prin-
ciple, that invisible spirits were present there and revealed

* Certain book-shops in Ftiris. — Trans,

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 25

themdelve8« After this invocation a certain number of per-
sons, seated at a large table, were besought to abandon them-
aelTee to their inspiration and to write. They were called
"writing mediums." Their dissertations were afterwards
read before an attentive audience. There were no physical
experiments of table-turning, or tables moving or speaking.
The president, Allan Kardec, said he attached no value to
such things It seemed to him that the instructions com-
municated by the spirits ought to form the basis of a new
doctrine, of a sort of religion.

At the same period, but several years earlier, my illus-
trioua friend Victorien Sardou, who had been an occasional
frequenter of the Observatory, had written, as a medium^
some curious pages on the inhabitants of the planet Jupiter^
and had produced picturesque and surprising designs, hav-
ing as their aim to represent men and things as they ap-
peared in this giant of worlds. He designed the dwellings
of people in Jupiter. One of his sketches showed us the
house of Mozart, others the houses of Zoroaster and of Ber-
nard Palissy, who were country neighbors in one of the land-
scapes of this immense planet. The dwellings are ethereal
and of an exquisite lightness. They may be judged of by the
two figures here reproduced (PI. II and III). The first
represents a residence of Zoroaster, the second " the animals'
quarters " belonging to the same. On the grounds are flow-
ers, hammocks, swings, flying creatures, and, below, intelli-
gent animals playing a special kind of ninepins where the
fun is not to knock down the pins, but to put a cap on them,
as in the cup and ball toy, etc.

These curious drawings prove indubitably that the sig-
nature "Bernard Palissy, of Jupiter," is apocryphal and
that the hand of Victorien Sardou was not directed by a
spirit from that planet. Nor was it the gifted author him-
self who planned these sketches and executed thenx in accord-

26 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ance with a definite plan. They were made while he was
in the condition of mediumship. A person is not mag-
netizedy nor hypnotized, nor put to sleep in any way while
in that state. But the brain is not ignorant of what lA taking
place: its cells perform their functions, and act (doubtless
by a reflex movement) upon the motor nerves. At that time
we all thought Jupiter was inhabited by a superior race of
beings. The spiritistic communications were the reflex of
the general ideas in the air. To-day, with our present knowl-
edge of the planets, we should not imagine anything of the
kind about that globe. And, moreover, spiritualistic seances
have never taught us anything upon the subject of astronomy.
Such results as were attained fail utterly to prove the inter-
vention of spirits. Have the writing mediums given any
more convincing proofs of it than these? This is what we
shall have to examine in as impartial a way as we can.

I myself tried to see if I, too, could not write. By col-
lecting and concentrating my powers and allowing my hand
to be passive and unresistant, I soon found that, after it had
traced certain dashes, and o's, and sinuous lines more or
less interlaced, very much as a four-year-old child learning
to write might do, it finally did actually write words and
phrases.

In these meetings of the Parisian Society for Spiritual*
istic Studies, I wrote for my part, some pages on astro-
nomical subjects signed " Galileo." The communications
remained in the possession of the society, and in 1867 Allan
Kardec published them under the head Oeneral Uranography,
in his work entitled Genesis. (I have preserved one of the
first copies, with his dedication.) These astronomical pages
taught me nothing. So I was not slow in concluding that
they were only the echo of what I already knew, and that
Qalileo had no hand in them. When I wrote the pages,

■ f

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/^y-} -

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'-••— 7% -t-u I '!-;"■;;;■■

> .. \>^

^^-•:V:^

- '"i >A ^^' ^-/i^^^ Ury" ^

■» .?'■ , ^.^ --.V- ■ *

> - ^ 7 ■ ■ V . _«iA - ^-- .- . . . "^

■■ t«

■-'■ ^

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MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 27

I wms in a kind of waking dreasL Besides, m j hand stopped
writing when I began to think of other subjects.

I may quote here what I said on this subject in my work,
The Worlds of Space (Lee Terres du Ciel), in the edition
of 1884, p. 181: —

The Avriting medium is not put to sleep, nor is he mag-
netized or hypnotized in any way. One is simply received
into a circle of determinate ideas. The brain actti (by
the mediation of the nervous system) a little differently
from what it does in its normal state. The difference is not
s() great as one might suppose. The chief difference may be
described as follows :

In the normal state we think of what we are going to write
before the act of writing begins. There is a direct action
of the will in causing the pen, the hand, and the fore-arm to
move over the paper. In the abnormal state, on the other
hand, we do not think before writing; wo do not move the
hand, but let it remain inert, passive, free; we place it \\\>ou
the paper, taking care merely that it shall meet with the
least possible resistance; we think of a word, a figure, a
stroke of the pen, and the hand of its own volition begins
to \iTite. But the writing medium must think of what ho
is doing, not beforehand, but continuously; otherwise the
hand stops. For example, try to write the word " fx*ean,"
not voluntarily (the ordinary way), but by simply taking a
lead-pencil, and letting the hand rest lightly and freely uiK)n
the paper, while you think of your word and observe care-
fully whether the hand will write. Very gi>od ; it d<K»s bo-
gin to move over the paper, writing first an o, then a r, and
the rest. At least that was my experience when I was study-
ing the new problems of spiritualism and magnetism.

I have always thought that the circle of science is not a
closed one, and that there are many things for us still to
learn. In the mediumistic writing experiments it is very
easv to deceive ourselves and to believe that the hand is under
the influence of another mind than our own. The most
probable conclusion regarding these experiences has been that
the theory of the action of foreign spirits is not necessary

28 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

for the explanation of such phenomena. But this is not the
place to enter into details upon a subject which, up to the
present time, has been only slightly examined by scientific
criticism, having more often been exploited by speculators
than studied by scientists.

So I wrote in 1884 ; and I will indorse every word I then
wrote, just as it stands.

In these first experiences with Spiritualists, of which I
have just been speaking, I soon had the entree of the chief
Parisian circles devoted to these matters, and for a couple
of years I even took the position of honorary secretary of one
of them. A natural or necessary result of this was that I did
not miss a single seance.

Three different methods were employed to receive com-
munications : (1) writing with the hand ; (2) the use of the
planchette to which a lead-pencil was attached, and on which
the hands were placed; and (3) table-rapping (or table-mov-
ing), operated by the alphabetic code, these raps or the move-
ments of the table marking the desired letter as the alphabet
was read aloud by one of those present.

The first of these methods was the only one employed at the
Society for Spiritualistic Studies, of which Allan Kardec was
president. It was the one which permitted the margin for
the most doubt. In fact, at the end of two years of in-
vestigations of this kind, which I had varied as much as
possible, and which I had entered upon without any precon-
ceived idea for or against, and with the most ardent desire
to arrive at the truth, I came to the positive conclusion
that not only are the signatures of these papers not authentic,
but that the intervention of another mind from the spirit
world is not proved at all, the fact being that we ourselves
are the more or less conscious authors of the communica-
tions by some cerebral process which yet remains to be in-
vestigated. The explanation is not so simple as it seems, and

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 29

there art certain rc e er vationfl to be made in the general state-
ment above.

When writing in the exalted and abnonnal state of mind
of the medinm, vre do not, as I have just said, form our
leasee as in the nonnal condition ; rather we wait for them
to be produced. But all the same our own mind mingles
in the process. The subject treated follows the lines of our
own customary thoughts; the language employed is our na-
tive tongue, and, if we are uncertain about the spelling of
certain words, errors will appear. Furthermore, so inti-
mately are our own mental processes mingled with what is
being written that, if we allow our thoughts to wander to
another topic, the hand either stops writing or produces in«
coherent words and scrawls. This is the mental state of the
writing medium,— • at least that which I have observed in
mvself. It is a kind of auto-suggofltion. I hasten to add,
however, that this opinion only binds me to the extent of
my own personal experiences. I am as«iired that there are
mediums who act in an absolutely mechanical way, knowing
nothing of the nature of what they are writing (see further
on, pp. 58, 59), who treat subjects of which they are ignorant,
and also even write in foreign languages. Such cases would
be different from that of which I have just been speaking,
and would indicate either a special cerebral state or great
keenness of intellect, or a source of ideas exterior to the
medium; ue., if it were once proved that our mind cannot
divine that of which it is ignorant. But now the transfer-
ence of thought from one brain to another, from one mind
to another, is a fact proved by telepathy. We could con-
ceive, then, that a medium might write under the influence
of some one near by — or even at a distance. Several me-
dinms have also composed (in successive seances) genuine ro-
mances, such as The History of Joan of Arc, Written hy
Berselfj or certain voyages to other planets, — seeming to

30 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

indicate that there is a kind of doubling of the personality of
the subject, a secondary personality. But there is no au-
thentication of this. There is also a psychic milieu, of which
I shall speak farther on. At present I must concern myself
only with the subject of this chapter, and say with 2^'ewton,
'' Hypotheses non fingo/'

Allan Kardec died on the 30th of March, 1869, and, when
the Society of Spiritualists came to ask me to deliver a
funeral oration at his tomb, I took occasion, during this dis-
course, to direct the attention of the Spiritualists to the
scientific character of investigations of this class and to the
manifest danger of allowing ourselves to be drawn into
mysticism.

I will reproduce at this point a few paragraphs taken from
this address :

I wish I could impress upon you who hear me, as well as
upon the millions of men throughout Europe and in the
New World who are studying the still mysterious problem of
spiritualism, what a deep scientific interest and what a
philosophic future there is in the studv of these phenomena^
to which, as you know, many of our most eminent living
scholars have given their time and attention. I wish I could
present to your imagination and theirs the new and vast
horizons we shall see opening up before us in proportion as
we broaden our scientific knowledge of the forces of nature
at work around us; and I would that I could show both
you and them that such conquests of the mind are the
most eflScacious antidote to the leprosy of atheism which
seems to be particularly the malignant degenerative element
in this our epoch of transition.

What a salutary thing it would be could I but prove here,
before this eloquent tomb, that the methodical examination
of the phenomena erroneously called supernatural, far from
calling back the spirit of superstition, and weakening the
energy of the reason, serves, on the contrary, to banish the
errors and illusions of ignorance, and assists the progress of

HY FIBST EXPEBIMENTS 81

trnth nnich more than do the irrational negations of those
who will not take the trouble to look at the facts.

It is high time now that this complex subject of study
should enter upon its sdentiiic period. Enough stress has
not been laid upon the physical side of the subject^ which
should be critically studied; for without rigid scientific ex*
periment no proof is valid. This objective a priori method
of investigation, to which we owe the glory of modem prog-
ress and the marvels of electricity and steam, should take
up the still unexplained and mysterious phenomena with
which we are acquainted, to dissect them, measure them, and
to define them.

For, gentlemen, apiritiuilism is not a religion, but a sci-
ence, a science of which we as yet scarcely know the a, b, c.
The age of dogma is past. Nature includes the Universe;
and Ood himself, who was in old times conceived of as a
being of similar shape and form as man, cannot be considered
by modem metaphysics as other than Mind in Naiure.

The supernatural does not exist. The manifestations ob-
tained by the agency of mediums, such as those of magnetism
and somnambulism, belong to the order of nature and ought
to be inexorably submitted to the test of experiment. There
are no more miracles. We are witnessing the dawning of a
new science. Who is there so bold as to predict whitlior the
scientific study of the new psychology will lead, and what the
results will be?

The limitations of human vision are such that the eye
only sees things between narrow bounds, and beyond thcso
limits, on this side and on that, it sees nothing. The body
may be compared to a harp of two chords, — the optic ner\'e
and the auditory nerve. One kind of vibrations excites the
first and another kind the second. That is the whole story
of human sensation, which is even inferior to that of many
of the lower animals ; certain insects, for example, in whom
the nerves of vision and of hearing arc more delicate than
in man.

Xow there are in nature, not two, but ten, a hundred, a
thousand kinds of movement or vibration. Wo leam, then,
from physical science, that we are living in the midst of a

82 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

world invisible to us, and that it is not impossible that there
may be living upon the earth a class of beings, also invisible
to us, endowed with a wholly different kind of senses, so
that there is no way by which they can make themselves
known to us, unless they can manifest themselves in acts
and ways that can come within the range of our own order
of sensations.

In the presence of such truths as these, which have as yet
only been barely announced, how absurd and worthless seems
mere blind denial ! When wt compare the little that we know
and the narrow limits of our range of perception with the
vast extent of the field of knowledge, we can scarcely refrain
from the conclusion that we know nothing and that every-
thing yet remains to be known. With what right do we
pronounce the word " impossible " in the presence of facts
which we prove to be genuine without yet being able to dis-
cover their causes ?

It is by the scientific study of effects that we arrive at
the determination of causes. In the class of investigations
which we group under the general head " Spiritualism,"
FACTS EXIST, But uo ouc Understands the method of their
production. Their existence, nevertheless, is just as true as
the phenomena of electricity.

But, as for understanding them — why, gentlemen, no-
body understands biology, physiology, psychology. What is
the human body ? What is the brain ? What is the absolute
action of the soul or mind ? We do not know. And, neither
do we know anything whatever of the essence of electricity
or the essence of light. It is prudent, then, to observe with
unbiased judgment all such matters as these, and to try to
determine their causes, which are perhaps of different kinds
and more numerous than has ever been supposed up to the
present time.*

It will be seen that what I publicly uttered as I stood on
the hillock above the grave into which Allan Kardec's coffin

* Oration delivered at the grave of Allan KardeC| by Camille Flam-
marion, Paris, Didier» 1869, pp. 4, 17, 22.

MY FraST EXPERIMENTS 83

had juBt been lowered differs not at all from the purely
scientific program of the present work.

I hmve jnst said that there were three methods employed
in our spiritistic experiments. I have given my opinion of
the first (writing mediums), basing it on my personal obser-
vationSy and without desiring to weaken other proofs, if there
are any. As to the second (planchette), I became familiar
with it more especially by the stances of Mme. de Qirardin,
at the home of Victor Hugo in the Isle of Jersey. It works
more independently than the first method ; but it is still only
a prolongation, as it were, of the hand and the brain. The
third method — table-rapping, or typtology ; I mean taps in
the table — seems to me still more emphatically an extension
of the hand and brain, and some forty-five years ago I often
made use of this form of experiment.

Bappings made on the floor by one foot of the table, as
letters are spelled out, have no special value. The least
pressure can produce these see-saw movements. The chief
experimenter himself makes the responses, sometimes with-
out suspecting it.

Several persons group themselves about a table, place their
hands upon it, and wait for sometliing to happen. At the
end of five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, the time depending
on the psychic atmosphere * and the faculties of the experi-
menters, raps are heard in the table, or the sitters help
in the movements of the table, which seems possessed. Why
choose a table? Because it is the only article of furniture
around which folks usually sit. Sometimes the table is lifted
on one or more of its feet and is gently rocked to and fro.
Sometimes it comes up as if glued to the hands placed on it,
remaining suspended in the air two, three, five, ten, twenty

*The author means, of course, by this phrase {milieu amhiani),
the totalitj of psycmc force present, the psychological atmosphere, the
total mind-energy radiated by the several more or less sensitive or
ntediomistic members of the company. — Trana,

84 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

seconds. Again, it is nailed to the floor with such force that
it seems to have double or triple its usual weight. At other
times, and usually on demand, it gives forth the sound of
a saw, of a hatchet, of a lead-pencil writing, etc. We
have here material results coming under direct observation,
and they prove irrefragably the existence of an imknown
force.

This force is a material force in the psychic class. If
we confined our attention to blind senseless movements of one
kind or another, in relation only with the volitions of the
experimenters, and not capable of being explained by the
mere imposition of their hands, we might see proof of the ex-
istence of a new unknown force, explicable as a transforma-
tion of nervous force, of organic electricity ; and that would
be much in itself. But the raps made in the table, or by the
feet of it, are made in reply to questions asked. Since we
know the table is only a piece of wood, when we ask it ques-
tions, we are really addressing some mental agent who hears
and replies. It was in this class of phenomena that modem
Spiritualism took its rise; namely, in the United States, in
1848, when the Fox sisters heard sounds in their chamber, —
raps in the walls and in the furniture. Their father, after
several months of vexatious investigation, finally had recourse
to the traditional theory of ghosts, and, addressing his
questions to the wall, demanded some kind of an explana^
tion from the invisible thing therein. This thing responded
by conventional taps to the questions asked, and declared
that it was the spirit of the former proprietor once as-
sassinated in this his very home. The spirit asked for
prayers and the burial of its body. (From this time on the
replies were so arranged that one rap in response to a question
signified yes^ two meant no, while three meant an emphatic
yes.)

I hasten to remark at once that the tapped replies prove

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 85

nothings and could have been made unconsciously by the Fox
siaterB themselves, whom we can not consider to have been
playing a little comedy since the raps produced by them in
the walls astounded and overwhelmed them more, indeed,
than they did any one else. The hypothesis of jugglery and
mystification, dear to certain critics, has not the least appli-
cation to this case, although I admit that rappings and move-
ments are often produced as practical jokes by waggish per>
sons.

There is, of course, an unseen cause that originates these
rappings. Is it within us or outside of us? Is it possible
that we might be capable of doubling our personality in
some way without knowing it, of acting by mental sugges-
tion, of answering our own questions without suspecting it,
of producing material results without being conscious of it?
Or does there exist, around and about us, an intelligent me-
dium or atmosphere, a kind of spiritual cosmos ? Or, again,
is it possible that we are surrounded by invisible non-human
beings, — gnomes, spirits, and hobgoblins (there may be an
unknown world about us) ? Or, finally^ is it possible that the
spirits of the dead may survive, and wander to and fro, and
hold communication with us i All those hypotile^k.'s present
themselves to our minds, nor have we the soientitle absolute
ri^t to reject any one of tliem.

The lifting of a table, the displacement of an object, may
be attributed to an unknown force developed by our nervous
system or otherwise. At least these movements do not prove
the existence of a mind extraneous to that of the subject
But when some one is naming the letters of the alphabet or
pobting them out on a sheet of pasteboard, and the table,
either by raps in the wood or by levitations, puts together
an intelligible sentence, we are forced to attribute this in-
telligent effect to an intelligent cause This cause may be
the medium himself; and the simplest way is, evidently, to

86 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

suppose that he himself raps out the letters. But experi-
ments can be arranged in such a way that he cannot possibly
do this, even unconsciously. Our first duty is, in reality,
to make fraud impossible.

Those who have sufficiently studied the subject know that
fraud does not explain what they have observed. To be sure,
in fashionable Spiritualistic soirees people sometimes amuae
themselves. Especially when the stances take place in the
dark, and the alternation of the sexes is provided for so as
to '^ reinforce the fluids," it is not altogether an unheard of
thing for the gentlemen to profit by the temptation to tern**
porarily forget the object of the meeting and break the es-
tablished chain of hands in order to begin another on their
own account. The ladies and the young girls like these
changes in the program, and scarcely a complaint is heard.
On the other hand, apart from fashionable soirees, to which
everybody is invited for their amusement, the more serious
reunions are frequently, no safer ; for the medium, who is,
in one way or another, an interested person, is anxious to
give the most he can — and something to boot.

Upon the leaf of an old note-book of mine which has just
turned up, I classed Spiritualistic soirees in the following
order, which is doubtless a slightly original one: —

1. Amorous caresses. (A similar reproach was made
against the ancient Christian love-feasts or agapes.)

2. Charlatanry of mediums, abusing the credulity of the
sitters.

3. Some serious inquirers.

At the time of which I was just now speaking (1861-
63) I took part, as secretary, in experiments conducted r^u-
larly once a week, in the salon of a well-known medium, —
Mile. Huet, of Mont-Thabor Street. Mediumship was, in a
way, her trade, and she had more than once been flagrantly
detected in some most remarkable trickery. Accordingly, it

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 87

mmj be fanagined that she would quite often give the raps
henelf fay hitting the tabie-l^B with her feet But quite
often we also obtained noiaes of sawing, of planing, of drum-
beating, and torrents of rain, which it would have been im-
possible for her to imitate. Neither could the holding fast
of the table to the floor be the woiic of fraud. As to the
leritations of the table, I said awhile ago that, when one of us
showed an inclination to resist with his hand the upward
movement, he received an impression as if the table were
floating on a fluid. Now it is hard to see how the medium
could produce this result. Everything took place in broad
dtyli^L

The communications received at the very many stances
(several hundred) at which I have been present, both at that
time and since, have always shown me that the results were
in direct ratio with the cultivation of mind of the partici-
pants. I naturally asked a great many questions on as-
tronomy. The replies never taught us anything new what-
ever; and, to be perfectly loyal to the truth, I must say
that if, in these experiments, there are spirits, or beings
independent of us in action, they know no more than we do
about the other worlds.

A distinguished poet, P. F. Mathiou, was usually present
at the reunions at the Mont-Thabor salon, and hence we some-
times obtained very pretty bits of verse, which I am sure
be did not himself consciously produce; for, like all of us,
he was there to learn. M. Joubert, vice-president of the
civil tribunal of Carcassonne, has published a work, entitled
yarious Fables and Poems, hy a Spirit-rapper, which bears
on its face evidence that it is but the reflex of bis customary
thoughts. We had Christian philosophers with us at our re-
nnions. Accordingly, the table dictated to us fine thoughts
signed "Pascal," "F&elon," "yinccnt de Paul," and

88 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

** Sainte Th6rds6. One spirit^ who signed himself ^^ Bal-
thasar Grimod de la Reynidre/' dictated funny dissertations
on the art of cooking. His specialty was to make the heavy
table dance about in all kinds of contortions. Rabelais some-
times appeared, still loving the perfumes of savory viands
as of old. Some of the spirits took pleasure in making tours
de force in cryptology (secret writing). The foUowing are
specimens of these table-rapping communications. The first
is from the vulgate version of the Bible, the Gospel of John

• • • o

111. 8:

^^ Spiritus ubi vult spirat ; et vocem ejus audis, sed nescis
unde veniat aut quo vadat. Sic est omnis qui natus est ex
spiritu." (" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,
and whither it goeth. So is every one that is bom of the

Spirit'O

^^ Dear little sister, I am here, and see that you are as good
as ever. You are a medium. I will go to you with great
happiness. Tell my mother her dear daughter loves her from
this world.* Louisa."

Some one asked one of the spirits if he could indicate by
taps the words engraved inside of her ring. The response
was:

^^ I love that one should love me as I love when I love.''

A member of the company suspected that the table around
which we were sitting mi^t conceal a piece of mechanism
for producing the raps. Accordingly, one of the sentences
was dictated by raps made in the air.

Here is another series:

'^ Je suis ung ioyeux compaignon qui vous esmarveilleray
avecqu^ mes discours, je ne suis pas ung Esperict matfiolo-

* This communication it given in Engliih by the author. — TVioni.

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 89

gien, je vestiray non liripipion et jc diray: Beuves I'eaue
de la cave, poy plua^ poy moins, serez content

'^ Alcofribaz Nazixb.''

{" I am a joUie blade who will astonie yon by my speech.
I am not a yaine-babbling sperit. I will wear my graduate's
hood and saie: Drinks ye water of ye cellar [wine], — no
more, no less. Be content.

" Francois Rabilais/')*

A rather lively discussion arose upon the subject of this
unexpected visit, — and of the language, which some erudite
persons present thought not to be pure Rabelaisian. Where-
upon the table rapped :

^^Bons enfants estes de vous esgousiller k ceste besterie.
Mieux vault que beuviez froid que parlicz chaud."

" Rabelais."

(" Ye're regular babies to bawle yourselves hoarse over this
seljnesse. It is bettaire to drinke cauld than to speak
warme.)

"Liesse et Noel! Monsieur Satan est d6fun, et de male
mort. Bien marrys sont les moynes, moynillons, bigotz et
cagotz, carmes chaulx et dechaulx, papelards et frocards,
mitrez et encapuchonnoz : les vccy sans couraige, les Esperiotz
les ont destrosnez. Plus ne serez roustiz et eschaubouillez
ez marmites monachales et roustissoires diaboliquos ; foin de
cea billevesees papales et clericquales. Dieu est bon, iuste et
plein de miserichorde ; il diet k ses petits enfancts: aimez-
vous les ungs les autres et il pardoint k la repentance. Le
grand dyable d^enfer est mort; vive Dieu! "

(" Hurrah for a merry life! Maister Satan is dead, dead
M a door-nail. The monks and the poor-devil friars are
married, — bigots and fanatics, Carmelites shod and unshod,

* Alcofribaz Nazier is weU known as Rabelais' anagram, formed
from his own name. It was the signature under which he published
Ui PantagrueL — TronM.

40 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the hypocrites and the cowled fellows, the mitres and the
hoods. There they stand trembling in their tracks; the
Spirits have dethroned them. Gone are the roastings and
soup-makings in the Devil's Dutch ovens and in monastic
kettles. A plague of these trashy tales of pope and priest I
God is good, just, and full of pity. He says to his little chil-
dren, * Love one another ' ; and he pardons the repentant.
The great devil in hell is dead. Hurrah for God ! *')

Here is still another series:

^^ Suov ruop er^tsym nu sruojuot tnores emem srueisulp ;

erdnerpmoc ed simrep erocne sap tse suov en li uq snoitseuq

Bed ridnoforppa ruop tirpse'l sap retnemruot suov en. Lies-

noc nob nu zevius."

" Suov imrap engfer en edrocsid ed tirpse'l siamaj euq."
"Arevele suov ueid te gererf sov imrap sreinred sel

zeyos ; 6vele ares essiaba's iuq iulec ^ Sssiaba ares evel6's iuq

iulec.''

These sentences must be read backwards, beginning at the
end. Some one asked, " Why have you dictated thus ? "
The reply was:

" In order to give you new and unexpected proofs.**

Read backwards, these Russian-like sentences are as fol-
lows:

^^ Celui qui s'61Sve sera abaiss6, celui qui s'abaisse sera
eleve; soyez les demiers parmi vos freres et Dieu vous
elfivera."

" Que jamais I'esprit de discorde ne rSgne parmi vous.**

" Suivez un bon conseil. Ne vous tourmenter pas I'esprit
pour approfondir des questions qu'il ne vous est pas encore
permis de comprendre; plusieurs meme seront toujours un
mystere pour vous."

(^' Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted! Be the least among
your brethren, and God will exalt you.**

MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 41

Never let the spirit of discord reign among you."
Follow good counsel. Do not torment yonr mind in
Attempting to fathom questions that it is not yet permitted
you to oomprehend : several of these will always be a mystery
to you."*)

Here b another of a different kind :

'' Acmairsvnoouussevtoeussbaoinmsoentsfbiideenlteosuss.
^* Sloeysepzruintissaeinndtieetuesnudrrvaosuessmaairlises."

I asked the meaning of this bizarre and portentous con-
glomeration of letters. The reply was :

*^ To conquer your doubts^ read by skipping every other
letter.*^

This arrangement using the skipped letters in their turn

for the second and fourth lines gives the four following

verses:

*^ Amidy nous vous aimons bicn tous.
Car vous etes bons et fideles.
Sovez unis en Dion : sur vous
L'Esprit-Saint ctendra scs ailee."

(" Friends, we love you all,

For you are good and faithful.

Be united in God : over you

The Holy Spirit will spread bis wings.")

This is innocent enough, surely and without any great
poetic pretensions. But it must be admitted that this method
of dictating is rather diflScult.*

*A piece of typtologicml dictation of the same kind has been re-
cently tent to me. Here it !■:

lUTFTUOLQBB

BSOAGPBSTI

Read euccessiTely, from top to bottom, one letter of each line, begin-
ning on the left, and the sense will appear sh follows: " Je muis trop
iktignS pour les obtenir." (" I am too tired to obtain them.'')

42 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Some one spoke of human plans. The table dictated as
follows:

"When the shining sun scatters the stars, know ye, O
mortal men, whether ye will see the evening of that day?
And, when the sombre curtains of night are let fall from the
sky, can you tell whether you will see the dawn of another
mom ? "

Another person asked, " What is faith ? "

" Faith ? 'Tis a blessed field that breeds a superb harvest,
and every laborer may therein reap and gamer to his heart's
content, and carry home his sheaves."

Here are three prose dictations :

" Science is a forest where some are laying out roads,
where many lose their way, and where all see the bounds
of the forest recede as fast as they go forward."

" God does not illuminate the world with the lightning and
the meteors. He guides peacefully in their courses the stars
of the night, which fill the sky with their light So the
divine revelations succeed one another in order, reason, and
harmony."

" Religion and Friendship are twin companions, who aid
us to traverse the painful path of life."

I cannot forego the pleasure of inserting here, at the close
of this chapter, a fable, dictated like the others by table-
rappings, and sent to me by M. Joubert, vice-president of the
civil tribunal of Carcassonne, f The sentiment of it noiay be
queried by some ; but is not the central principle applicable
to all epochs and to all governments: Do not the *^ arri-
vistea " J belong to all times ?

*ThiB and the next dictation are rhymed verse in the original
French. — Trans,

t In rhymed verses in the original. — Trans.

t A word of recent origin, meaning ambitious or pretentious people
who want "to arrive," the would-be's. The word forms the title of a
recent French novel, VArrivisie, and (translated) of an English one
oaUed The Climber.^ Tram.

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 48

TBX KEHO AlTD THE PKASAITT

A king who bad profaned the public libertiesy wbo for
twenty years bad slaked bis tbirst in tbe blood of beretics ;
awaiting tbe quiet peace of tbe bangman in bis declining
days ; decrepit, surfeited witb adulterous amours ; tbis king,
tbis haugbty monster of wbom tbey bad made a great man, —
Louis tbe Fourteentb, in abort, if I must name bim, — was
one day airing under tbe leafy arcbes of bis vast gardens bis
ScarroUy bis infamy and bis troubles. Tbe noble band of
court flunkeys came along. Eacb one at once lost at least
six incbes of bis beigbt Pages, counts, marquises, dukes,
princes, marsbals, ministers, bowed low before insulting
rivals, tbe creatures of tbe king. Ghrave magistrates made
tbeir deep reverences, eacb bumbler tban a suitor asking for
audience. 'Twas pleasant to see bow tbe ribbons, crosses
and decorations on tbeir embroidered coats went ever back-
wards. Always and always that ignoble bowing and scrap-
ing and cringing. I should like to wake up some morning
an emperor, tbat I might sting with my whip the backbone
of a flatterer. But seel alone, confronting the despot, yet
without abasing bis bead, forging along with slow steps on
his own way, modest, clad in coarse homespun garments,
comes one wbo seems a peasant, perhaps a philosopher, and
passes by tbe groups of insolent courtiers. " Oh," cries the
king, in great surprise, " why do you alone confront me with-
out bending tbe Imee ? " ^^ Sire," said tbe unknown, '^ must
I be frank ! It is because I alone here expect nothing from
you."

If we stop to think bow these sentences and phrases
and different bits of literature were produced, letter by let-
ter, rap by rap, following tbe alphabet as it was read out, we
shall appreciate tbe di£Bculty of tbe thing. The rappings are
made either in tbe interior of the wood of the table (the
vibrations of which are perceptible) or in some other piece
of furniture, or even in tbe air. The table, as I have already
said, is alive, pregnant witb a kind of momentary vitality.
Melodies of well-known airs, sounds of sawing and of tbe

U MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

workshop, and the report of fusillades can be drawn from
it Sometimes it becomes so light that it floats for a mo-
ment in the air, then so heavy that two men can scarcely
lift it from the floor or budge it in any way. You must
have a distinct picture in your mind of all these manifesta-
tions, — often puerile, no doubt, sometimes vulgar and gro-
tesque, yet striking in their method of operation, — if you
would accurately understand the phenomena, and realize that
you are in the presence of an imknown element which jug-
glery and prestidigitation cannot explain.

Some folks can move their toes separately and crack the
joints. If we should grant that the dictations, by combina-
tions of letters (quoted above), were arranged in advance,
learned by heart, and thus rapped, the matter would be simple
enough. But this particular faculty is very rare, and it
does not explain the noises in the table, the vibrations of
which are felt by the hands. Again, one could fancy the
medium tapping the table-legs with his foot, and thus con-
structing such sentences as he pleases. But it would require
a wonderful memory in the medium to enable him to remem-
ber the precise arrangement of letters (for he has no memo-
randum before him), and, further, these curious dictations
have been secured just the same in select companies where
no one would cheat.

As to the theory that the spirits of eminent men are in
conmiunication with the experimenters the mere statement
of the hypothesis shows its absurdity. Imagine a table-rap-
per calling up from the vasty deep the spirits of Paul or
Saint Augustine, Archimedes or Newton, Pythagoras or
Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci or William Herschel, and
receiving their dictations from the interior of a table !

We were speaking, a few pages back, of the seance draw-
ings and descriptions of Jupiter made by Victorien Sardou.
This is the proper place to insert a letter written by him

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 45

to M. Jules Claretie, and puUiahed by the latter in Le Tempg
at the date when that learned Academician was patting on the
boards his drama SpirUiifne. The letter is here appended :

. • • As to Spiritualism^ I could better tell you ver-
bally in three words what I think of it than I could write
here in three pages. You are half right and half wrong*
Pardon my freedom of speech. There are two things in
Spiritualiffln, — (1) curious facts, inexplicable in the present
state of our knowledge, and yet authenticated; and (2) the
folks who explain them.

The facts are reaL Those who explain them belong to
three categories: there are, first, Spiritualists who are im-
becile, ignorant, or mad, the chaps who call up Epaminondas
and whom you justly make fun of, or who believe in the
intervention of the devil; those, in short, who end in the
limatic asylum in Charenton.

Secundo, there are the charlatans, commencing with
D.; impostors of all sorts, prophets, consulting mediums,
such as A. K., and tuiti quanti.

Finally, there are the scholars and scientists, who think
they can explain everything by juggleries, hallucination, and
unconscious movements, men like Cbcvrcul and Faraday,
who, while they are right about some of the phenomena de-
scribed to them, and which really are jugglery or hallucina-
tion, are yet wrong about the whole series of original facts,
which they will not take the trouble to look at, though they
are highly important. These men are much to blame ; for,
by their plea-in-bar against earnest investigators (such as
Oasparin, for example) and by their insufficient explana-
tions, they have left Spiritualism to be exploited by charla-
tans of all kinds, and at the same time authorized serious
amateurs to no longer waste their time over these studies.

Last of all, there are observers like myself (there are not
many of us) who are incredulous by nature, but who have
been obliged to admit, in the long run, that Spiritualism con-
cerns itself with facts which defy any present scientific ex-
plication, but who do not despair of seeing them explained
some day, and who therefore apply themselves to the study
of the facts, and are trying to reduce them to some kind of

46 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

classification which may later prove to he law. We of this
persuasion hold ourselves aloof from every coterie, from
every clique, from all the prophets, and, satisfied with the
convictions to which we have already attained, are content
to see in Spiritualism the dawn of a truth, as yet very ob-
scure, which will some day find its Ampere, as did the mag-
netic currents, and who grieve to see this truth choked out of
existence by a dual foe, — excess of credulous ignorance
which believes everything and excess of incredulous science
which believes nothing.

We find in our conviction and our conscience the where-
withal to brave the petty martyrdom of ridicule infiicted
upon us for the faith we profess, a faith exaggerated and
caricatured by the mass of follies people never fail to attrib-
ute to us, nor do we deem that the myth in which they dress
us up merits even the honor of a refutation.

Similarly, I have never had any desire to prove to any-
body whatever that the influence of either Moliere or Beau-
marchais cannot be detected in my plays. It seems to me
that that is more than evident.

Respecting the dwellings of the planet Jupiter, I must
ask the good folks who suppose that I am convinced of the
real existence of these things whether they are well per-
suaded that Gulliver believed in " Lilliput," * Campanella
in the " City of the Sun," and Sir Thomas More in his
" Utopia."

What is true, however, is that the design of which you
speak [PI. III.] was made in less than ten hours. As to its
origin, I would not give a penny to know about that ; but the
fact of its production is another matter

V. Sasdov.

Scarcely a year passes that mediums do not bring me draw-
ings of plants and animals in the Moon, in Mars, Venus,
Jupiter, or certain of the stars. These designs are more or
less pretty, and more or less curious. But there is nothing in

* So in the original. Possibly M. Sardou was under the mistaken
impression that Gulliver was a nom-de-plume for Dean Swift. — Trans,

MY FERST EXPERIMENTS 47

them thmt leads hb to admit their actual resemblance to real
things in other worlds. On the contrary, everything proves
that they aro the products of imagination, essentially terres-
trial, both in look and shape, not even tallying what we
know to be the vital possibilities of those worlds. The de-
signers of them are the dupes of illusion. These plants and
animal are metamorphoses (sometimes elegantly conceived
and drawn) of terrestrial organisms. Perhaps the most curi-
ous thing of all is that they have a family resemblance in the
manner of their execution, and have stamped on them, in
some way or other, the mediumistic hall-mark.

To return to my own experiences. When I took the role
of writing-medium, I generally produced astronomical or
philosophical dissertations signed '^Galileo." I will quote
but one of them as a sample. It is taken from my note-
books of 1862.

8CIX1TCS.

The human intellect holds in its powerful grasp the in-
finite universe of npace and time ; it has penetrated the inac-
cessible domain of the Past, sounded the mystery of the
unfathomable heavens, and believes that it has explained the
riddle of the universe. The objective world has unrolled
before the eyes of science its splendid panorama and its mag-
nificent wealth of forms. The studies of man have led him
to a knowledge of truth; he has explored the universe, dis-
covered the inexorable reign of law, and the application of
the forces that sustain all things. If it has not been per-
mitted to him to see the First Cause face to face, at least
he has attained a true mathematical idea of the scries of
secondary causes.

In this latest century, above all, the experimental a priori
method, the only really scientific one, has been put into prac-
tice in the natural sciences, and^by its aid man has freed
himself from the prejudices of the old school of thought, one
by one, and from subjective or speculative throrios, and con-
fined himself to a careful and intelligent study of the field
of observation.

48 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Yes, human science is firmly based and pregnant with
possibility, worthy of our homage for its difficult and long-
proved past, worthy of our sympathy for its future, big widi
the promise of useful and profitable discoveries. For na-
ture is henceforth to be a book accessible to the bibliographical
researches of the studious, a world open to the investigations
of the thinker, a fertile region which the human mind has
already visited^ and in which we must needs advance boldly,
holding in our hand experience as our compass. • • •

An old friend of my terrestrial life recently spoke to
me as follows. One of our wanderings had brought us back
to the Earth, and we were making a new moral study of this
world. My companion remarked that man is to-day familiar
with the most abstract laws of mechanics, physics, chemis-
try, • • • that the applications of knowledge to industry
are not less remarkable than the deductions of pure science,
and that it seems as if the entire universe, wisely studied
by man, was to be his royal appanage. As we pursued our
journey beyond the bounds of this world, I answered him
in the following terms:

"A feeble atom, lost to sight in an imperceptible point
of the infinite, man has believed he could embrace in the
sweep of his vision the whole expanse of the universe, where-
as he can scarcely pass beyond the region he inhabits; he
has thought he could study the laws of all nature, and his
investigations have scarcely reached the forces in action
about him ; he has thought he could determine the grandeur
of the starry heaven, and he exhausted his powers in the
study of a grain of dust. The field of his researches is so
small that, once lost to view, the mind seeks in vain to re-
cover it; the human heaven and earth are so small that
scarcely has the soul in its fiight had time to spread its wings
before it has reached the last regions accessible to the obser-
vation of man ; for the immeasurable Universe surrounds us
on all sides, unfolding beyond the limits of our heavens its
unknown riches, putting its inconceivable forces into play,
and reaching forward into immensity in the splendor of its
life.

" And the mere flesh-worm, the miserable mite, blind and
wingless, whose wretched existence is passed upon the leaf

ICT FIBST EXPERIMENTS 49

when H was boni, would presume (because forsooth it has
taken a few steps vpon thu leaf shaken in the wind) to have
Ihe ri^t to sp^ik of the imnienHe tree to whidi it bekmgSi of
the foiest of which thu tree forms a part, and to sagely
descant xxpon the nature of the vegetation developed thereon,
of the beings that inhabit it, of the distant sun nrfiose rays
bring to it movement and life! In very truth, man is
strangely presumptuous to desire to measure infinite great-
ness by the foot-rule of his infinite littleness.

^' Therefore be this truth well impressed on his mind,—
if the arid labors of past ages have acquired for him an ele-
mentary knowledge of things, if the progress of thou|^t has
placed him at the vestibule of knowledge, still he has not
yet spelled out more than the first page of the Book, and,
like a child, liable to be deceived bjr every word, far from
claiming the right to authoritatively interpret the work, he
ought to content himself with humbly studying it, page by
page, line by line. Happy, however, those who are able to
do this r

Gaulso.

These were my customary thoughts. They are the
thou^ts of a student of nineteen or twenty who has acquired
the habit of thinking. There can be no doubt that they were
wholly the product of my own intellect, and that the illus-
trious Florentine astronomer had nothing whatever to do
with them. Besides, this would have been a coUuborution to
the last degree improbable.

It has been the same with all the communications of the
astronomical class: they have not led the science forward a
single step. Nor has any obscure, mysterious, or illusive
point in history been cleared up by the spirits. We only
write that which we know, and even chance has given us
nothing. Still, certain unexplained thought-transferences
are to be discussed. But they belong to the psychological or
human sphere.
In order to reply at once to objections that certain Spirit-

50 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ualists have sent to me apropos of this result of my observa-
tions, I will take as an example the case of the satellites
of Uranus, since it is the chief one always brought forward
as a proof of scientific discoveries imparted by spirits. Fur-
thermore, I received several years ago from divers sources
a pressing invitation to examine an article by General Dray-
son, published in the journal named Light, in 1884, under
the title of The Solution of Scientific Problems hy Spirits,
in which it is asserted that the spirits made known the true

orbital movement of the satellites of Uranus. Pressing en-
gagements had always hindered me from making this exami-
nation; but the case having been recently promulgated in
several Spiritualistic works as decisive, and I being so per-
sistently importuned to discuss it, I believe it will prove of
some use if I now examine the case.

To my great regret there is an error in their communica-
tion, and the spirits have taught us nothing. Here is one
instance, wrongly selected as a demonstration. The Russian
writer Aksakof sets it forth in the following terms (Animism
and Spirittialismj p. 341) :

The case of which we are about to give an account seems to
be of such a nature as to settle all objections. It was com-
municated by Major-General A. W. Drayson and published
under the title The Solution of Scientific Problems by
Spirits. I append a translation :

" Having received from M. Georges Stock a letter asking
me if I could mention, were it only as an instance, that, dur^
ing the holding of a seance, a spirit had solved one of those
scientific problems which have always embarrassed scientists,
I have the honor to communicate to you the following cir-
cumstance, which I witnessed with my own eyes :

" In 1781 William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus
and its satellites. He observed that these satellites, contrary
to all the other satellites of the solar system, traversed their
orbits from east to west. Sir John Herschel says in his
Outlines of Astronomy :

MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 61

^ * The orbits of these satellites present peculiaritios alto-
gether unexpected and exceptional, contrary to the general
kws which govern the other bodies of the solar system. The
planes of their orbits are almost perpendicular to the ecliptic,
making an angle of 70* 58^* and they travel with a retro-
grade movement; that is to say, their revolution about the
centre of their planet takes place from east to west in place
of following the inverse course.'

'^ When Laplace broached his theory that the sun and all
the planets were formed at the expense of a nebulous matter,
these satellites were an enigma to him.

^' Admiral Smyth mentions in his Celestial Cycle that the
movement of these satellites, to the stupefaction of all as-
tronomers, is retrograde, contrary to that of all the other
bodies observed up to that time.

^^ All the astronomical works published before 1860 con-
tain the same reasoning on the subject of the satellites of
Uranus. For my part, I did not find any explanation for
this peculiarity : to me it was a mystery as much as for the
writers whom I have cited.

^^ In 1858 I had as a guest in my house a lady who was a
medium, and we arranged daily seances. One evening she
said to me that she saw at my side a spirit who claimed to
have been an astronomer during his life on earth.

" I asked this person if he was wiser at present than when
he lived on the earth. * Much wiser,* he said. I had the
idea of asking this so-called spirit a question the object of
which was to test his knowledge. * Can you tell me,' I
asked him, ^ why the satellites of Uranus make their revo-
lution from east to west and not from west to east t * I
received at once the following reply :

" * The satellites of Uranus do not move in their orbits
from east to west : they circle about their planet from west to

east, in the same way that the moon moves around the earth.

The error comes from the fact that the south pole of Uranus

^as turned toward the earth at the moment of the discovery

of this planet. In the same way that the sun, seen from our
anthem hemisphere, seems to run its daily course from ri^^ht

*Thig inclination is really S2*, reckoning from the south, or 9S*
(904- go)^ counting from the north (see Fig. A).

62 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

to left and not from left to right, so the satellites of Uranua
were moving at that time from left to right, though this does
not mean they were moving in their orbit from east to west'

" In reply to another question which I asked, my inter-
locutor added : ^ As long as the south pole of Uranua was
turned toward the earthy in relation to a terrestrial observer,
the satellites seemed to move from left to right, and it was
erroneously concluded from this that they were going from
east to west: this state of things lasted for about forty-two
years. When the north pole of Uranus is turned toward the
earth, his satellites run their course from right to left, but,
in either case, always from the west to the east.'

^' I thereupon asked him how it happened that the error
had not been detected forty-two years after William Herschel's
discovery of Uranus. He replied, * It is because people
repeat that which the authorities who have preceded them
have said. Dazzled by the results obtained by their prede-
cessors, they do not take the trouble to think.' "

Such is the "revelation" of a spirit on the system of
Uranus, published by Drayson and presented by Aksakof and
other authors as an undeniable proof of the intervention of a
spirit in the solution of this problem.

The following is the result of an impartial discussion of
this very interesting subject. The reasoning of the " spirit "
is false. The system of Uranus is almost perpendicular to
the plane of its orbit. It is the direct opposite of that of the
satellites of Jupiter, which turn almost in the plane of their
orbit. The inclination of the plane of the satellites to the
ecliptic is 98°, and the planet ascends almost in the plane
of the ecliptic. This is a fundamental consideration in the
picture which we ought to make to ourselves of the aspect
of this system seen from the earth.

Let us, however, adopt for the method of movement of
these satellites around their planet the projection upon the
plane of the ecliptic, as has always been the custom. The
author maintains that, " when the north pole of Uranus is
turned toward the earth, his satellites run their course from

MY FIRST EXPERIMENTS 53

right to left, that is to uy froni west to east " ; be indoraea
tlie ctHnmniucition of the spirit to the effect that the as-
tnmomers aie in error and that the satellites of Uranus
really rerolvv anmnd their planet from west to east, in the
same way that the moon rerolves around the earth.

In order to gire ourselves an exact account of the position
and of the method of the movements of this system, lot us
constroct a special geometrical figure, clear and precise. Let
ns represent upon a plane the appearance of the orbit of
Uranus and of its satellites seen from the norlbeni hcmis-
fbere of the celestial sphere (Fig. A). The part of the
orbit of the satellites above the plane of the orbit of Uranus
has been drawn with heavy lines and hatching the lower
part in dotted lines only.

It is easily seen by the direction of the arrows that the
revolution of the satellites, projected upon the plane of the
orbit, is entirely rctn^ade. All dogmatic afiimiatioiiH to
the contrary are abeolnlely erroneous.

These satellites turn like the hands of a watch, — from
left to right, looking at the upper part of the circloA.

The error of General Drayson's medium cornea from the
fact that she maintained that the floutli pole of Uraniin was
turned toward ub at the date of its discovery. How, in
1791, the system of Uranus occupied relatively to us almost
the same situation as in 1862, since the time of its revolu-
tion is eighty-four years. It is evident from the figure
that, at that moment, the planet presented to us the pole
moat elevated above the ecliptic; that is, its north pole.
General Drayson allowed himself to be led into error when
\ he adopted without verification these paradoxical premises.
\ Aa a matter of fact, if Uranus had presented to us its south
' pole in 1781, the movement of the satellites would have been
I direct But the observations of the angle of position of the
I orbiu at the time of their passage of the nodes ^vea ua

54 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

abundant evidence that it was really the north pole which
was at that moment turned toward the sun and the earth, —
a fact which renders direct movement impossible, retro-
grade movement certain.

Fig. 1. — The inclination of the system of Uranus. Aspects seen
from the earth at the four extreme positions.

For greater clearness, I have placed outside of the orbit,
in Fig 1, the aspect of the system of Uranus seen from
the earth at the four principal epochs of the revolution of
this distant planet. It is evident that the apparent method
of the revolution was analogous to that of the hands of a.

MY FERST EXPERIMENTS ' 56

watch in 1781 and 1862, the opposite in 1818 and 1902.
At these dates the apparent orbits of the satellites are al-
most circles, while during the passage of the nodes, in 1798,
1840, and 1882, they are reduced to straight lines.

Figure la completes these data bjr presenting the aspect
of the orbits and the method of revolution for all the posi-
tions of the planet, even down to our own epoch.

I have desired to completely elucidate this question,
which is a little technical. To my great regret, the spirits
have taught us nothing, and this example, to which so much
importance is attached, is seen to be an error.*

Aksakof cites, in this same chapter (p. 343), the dis-
covery of the two satellites of Mars, also made by Drayson
throu^ a medium, in 1859; that is to say, 18 years before
their discovery, in 1877. This discovery, not having been
published at the time, remains doubtful. Furthermore,
after Kepler had pointed out its probability, this subject of
the two satellites of Mars was several times discussed, nota-
bly by Swift and Voltaire (see my Popular Astronomy, p.
501). This is not, then, to be set down as an undeniable in-
stance of a discovery made by the spirits.

The immediately foregoing instances are facts actually
observed at Spiritualistic seances. I will not treat them
under a generalization foreign to their proper setting.
They do not prove that, in certain circumstances, thinkers,
poets, dreamers, investigators, may not be inspired by in-
fluences emanating from others, from loved ones, from de-

* I have just found In my library a book which was sent to me in
1S8S by the author, Major-General Drayson, the title of which is
^irty Thousand Years of the Earth's Past History, Read by Aid of the
^>Moarery of the Second Rotation of the Earth. This second rotation
would take place about an axis the pole of which would be 20^ 25' 47"
^om the pole of the daily rotation, about 270 right ascension, and
would be accomplished in 32,6S2 years. The author seeks to explain
It by the glacial periods and variations of climate. But his work is
lull of confusions most strange and even unpardonable in a man
^etBed in astronomical studies. The truth is that this General Drayson

(who died several years ago) was not an astronomer.

MYSTEEIOTJS PSTOHIC FOECES

MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 67

parted friends. That is another question, a topic quite
apart from experiments which we are giving an account of
in this book.

The same author, otherwise generally very judicious, cites
several examples of foreign tongues spoken by mediums.
I have not been able to verify them, and I am asked not
to say here anything but what I am absolutely sure of.

According to my personal observations, these experiments
bring us constantly into the presence of ourselves, our own
minds. I could cite a thousand examples of this.

One day I received an ^^ aerolite " discovered in a forest
in the environs of Etrepagny (Euro). Mme. J. L, who
kindly sent it to me, added that she consulted a spirit about
its origin and that he replied to her that it came from a star
named Golds. Now in the first place there is no star of this
name ; and, secondly, this 'is not an aerolite at all, but a
piece of slag from an old forge. (See Section CC2 of my
Inquiry of 1899. The first of these sections, relating to
telepathy, have been published in my work The UtJcnown.)

A lady reader of mine ^Totc me from Montpcllier:

Your conclusions would perhaps diminish the prestige of
Spiritualism in the eyes of certain ix?rsons. But, as prestige
may produce superstition, it is well to clear up matters.
For my part, that which you have observed agrees with what
I have myself observed. This is the method which I have
employed, aided by a friend :

I took a book and, opening it, retained in my mind the
number of the right-hand page. Suppose it was 132. I
said to the table, which had been put in movement by the
little manoeuvre ordinarily used, '^ Does a spirit desire
to communicate ? "

Reply — " Yes."

Question — ^^ Can you see the book which I have just been
looking at ? "

Reply — " Yes."

68 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

'^ How many numbers are there on the page that I have
been looking at ? "

" Three,"

" Indicate the number of hundreds."

" One."

" Indicate the value of the tens."

" Three."

" Indicate the value of the units*"

" Two."

The amounts indicated in these statements are of course
132. It was enchanting.

Then, taking the closed book and, without opening it,
sliding the paper-knife between the pages, I resimied the
conversation, and the result with this last method was always
inexact.

I frequently repeated this little experience (curious at
any rate) ; and, every time, I had exact replies when I knew
them, inexact when I was ignorant of them. (Section 657
of my Inquiry.)

These examples might be multiplied ad infinitum.
Everything leads us to think that it is we who are the
actors in these experiments. But it is not so simple as one
might suppose, and there is something else in it as well as
ourselves. Certain unexplained things take place.

In his remarkable work. Intelligence, Taine explains
Spiritualistic communications by a sort of unconscious dupli-
cation of our mind, as I said above.

The more singular a fact is [he writes *] the more in-
structive it is. In this respect, Spiritualistic manifestations
themselves point the way to discoveries by showing us the
coexistence at the same moment in the same individual of
two thoughts, two wills, two distinct actions, the one con-
scious, the other unconscious; the latter he attributes to in-
visible beings. The brain is, then, a theatre on the stage of
which several pieces are being played at once, upon several

* IntelUgenoe, Vol. I., preface, p. 16, edition of 1897. The first edi-
tion was published in 1868.

MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 59

planes, of which <ml7 one is not subliminaL Nothing is
more worthy of study than this plurali^ of the me. I have
seen a person who, while speaking or singings writes, without
regard to the paper, consecutive sentences and even entire
pages, without any knowledge of what she is writing. In
my eyes her sincerity is perfect Now she declares Uiat at
the end of a page she has no idea of what she has written on
the paper. When she reads it, she is astonished, sometimes
alarmed. The handwriting is different from her ordinary
handwriting. The movement of the fingers and of the pencil
is stiff and seems automatic. The writing always ends with
a signature, that of a deceased person, and bears the mark
of intimate thoughts, of a secret and inner reserve of ideas
which the author would not like to divulge. Certainly there
is proof here of a doubling of the me, the coexistence of two
parallel and independent trains of thought, of two centres of
action, or, if you wish, of two moral persons existing in the
same brain, each one doing his work, and each one a different
work, the one upon the stage and the other behind the scenes,
the second as complete as the first, since, alone and unwit-
ting of the other, it constructs consecutive ideas and fashions
connected sentences in which the other has no part.

This hypothesis is admissible, in the light of nimierous
observations of double consciousness.*

It is applicable to a great number of cases, but not in all.
It explains automatic writing. But, as it stands, it is
necessary to stretch it considerably to make it explain the rap-
pings (for who raps?), and it does not explain at all the
levitations of the table^ nor the displacement of objects of
which I have spoken in the first chapter, and I do not very
well see how it can even explain phrases rapped out back-
wards or by the strange combinations described above. This

*A11 those who occupy themielyes with these questions are ac-
quainted, among other cases, with that of Felida (studied by Dr.
Azam). In the story of this young girl she is shown as endowed with
two distinct personalities to such an extent that, in the second state,
she becomes amorous . . . and enceinte, without knowing anything
about it in her normal condition. These states of double personalities
^ve beoi methodically observed for thirty years.

:«0 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

hypothesis is admitted and developed in a more unqualified
way by Dr. Pierre Janet in his work Psychological Autom-
atism. This author is one of those who have created a
narrow circle of observation and study, and who not only
never emerge from it, but imagine that they have got the
whole universe in their circle. In going over this kind of
reasoning, one thinks involuntarily of that old quarrel of
the two round eyes who saw everything round and of the
two square eyes who saw everything square, and of the
history of the Big-endians and of the Little-endians of GuU

liver^s Travels. An hypothesis is worthy of attention when
it explains something. Its value does not increase by the
attempt to generalize it and make it explain everything:
this is to overpass all reasonable limits.

We may admit that the sub-conscious acts of an abnormal
personality, temporarily grafted upon our normal person-
ality, explain the greater part of mediumistic writing com-
munications. We can see in these also the evident effects
of auto-suggestion. But these psycho-physiological hypothe-
ses do not explain all observations. There is something else.

We all have a tendency to want to explain everything by
the actual state of our knowledge. In the face of certain
circumstances, we say to-day : " It is suggestion, it is
hypnotism, it is this, it is that." Half a century ago we
would not have talked in this way, these theories not having
yet been invented. People will no longer talk in the same
way half a century, a century, hence, for new words will
have been invented. But let us not be put off with words;
let us not be in such a hurry.

We must know how to explain in what way our thoughts
— conscious, imconscious, sub-conscious — can strike blows
in a table^ move it, lift it. As this question is rather em-
barrassing, Dr. Pierre Janet treats it as " secondary person-
ality," and is obliged to have recourse to the movements of

MY FIBST EXPERIMENTS 61

the toee, to the finappiiig of the muaeles of the fibalar tendon,
to ventriloquism and the deceptions of unoonacious accom-
plices.* This is not a sufficient explanation.

As a matter of f act, we do not understand how our thought,
or that of another, can cause raps in a table, by which sen-
tences are formed But we are obliged to admit it Let
us call it, if you please, ^^ telekinetsis " ; but does that get us
any farther along !

There has been talk for some yean about unconscious
facts, about sub^consciousnessy subliminal consciousness, etc
I fear that in these things also we are putting ourselves off
with words which do not explain things very much.

I intend some day, if the time is given me, to write a
special book on Spiritualism, studied from the theoretio
and doctrinal point of view, which will form a second volume
of my work The Unknown and Psychic Problems, and which
has been in preparation since the publication of that work
in 1899. Mediumistic communications, dictations received
(notably by Victor Hugo, Mme. de Girardin, Eugene Nus,
and the Phalanstcrians), will be the subject of special chap-
ters in this volume, — as well as the problem, otherwise im-
portant, of the plurality of existences.

It is not my intention to enlarge in this place upon the
aspects of the general question. That which I restrict my-
self to establishing in this book is that there are in us,
about us, unknown forces capable of putting matter in
motion, just as our will does. I ought, therefore, to limit
myself to material phenomena. The range of that class of
investigations is already immense, and the ^'communica-
tions " of which I have just spoken are really outside the
limits of this range. But, as this subject and that of psycho-
Ic^cal experiments are continually overlapping, it was
necessary to give a summary of it in this place. Let us

* Psychological Automatism, p. 401-402.

62 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

return for the present to the material phenomena produced
by mediums and to that which I have myself ascertained in
my experiences with Eusapia Paladino, who unites them
nearly all in her own personality and experiences.

CHAPTER III

KY EXPEBIMEXTS WITH EUBAPIA PALADINO.

In the earlier pages of this volume some of my later ex-
periments with the Neapolitan medium, Eusapia Paladino,
have been described. We shall now revert to the earlier
ones.

My first experimental seance with this remarkable medium
took place on the 27th of July, 1897. In response to the
invitation of an excellent and honorable family , — that of
Blech, — the name of which has for a long time been hap-
pily associated with modem researches in tlieosophy, occult-
ism, and psychological studies, I betook myself to Montfort-
TAmaury, to make the personal acquaintance of this
mediimi, whose case had already been studied in several
particulars by MM. Lombroso, Charles Richet, Ochorowicz,
Aksakof, Schiaparelli, Myers, Lodge, A. De Rochas, Dariex,
J. Maxwell, Sabatier, De Watteville, and a great number
of other scholars and scientists of high standing. Mme.
Paladino's gifts had even been made the subject of a work
by Count de Rochas upon The Extcmalization of Motivity,
as \7ell as of innimierable articles in the special reviews.

The impression that results from the reading of all the
official reports is not altogether satisfactory, and besides
leaves us with our curiosity entirely ungratified. On the
other hand, I can say, as I have already had occasion to
remark, that, during the last forty years, almost all the
celebrated mediums have been present at one time or an-
other in my salon in the avenue I'Observatoire in Paris, and

64 . MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

that I have detected them nearly all in trickery. Not that
they always deceive : those who aflirm this are wrong. But,
consciously or unconsciously, they bring with them an ele-
ment of trouble against which one is obliged to be con-
stantly on guard, and which places the experimenter in
conditions diametrically opposed to those of scientific ob-
servation.

Apropos of Eusapia I had received from my illustrious
colleague, M. Schiaparelli, director of the observatory at
Milan, to whom science is indebted for so many important
discoveries, a long letter from which I will quote a few
passages:

During the autumn of 1892 I was invited by M. Aksakof
to be present at a certain number of Spiritualistic scancca
held under his direction and care, for the purpose of meeting
the medium Eusapia Paladino, of Naples. I saw a number
of very surprising things, a part of which, to tell the truth,
could be explained by very ordinary means. But there are
others the production of which I should not know how to
explain by the known principles of natural philosophy. I
add, without any hesitation, that, if it had been possible
to entirely exclude all suspicion of deceit, one would have
had to recognize in these facts the beginning of a new sci-
ence pregnant with consequences of the highest importance.
But it must be admitted that thesd experiments have been
made in a manner little calculated to convince impartial
judges of their sincerity. Conditions were always imposed
that hindered the right comprehension of what was really
taking place. When we proposed modifications in the pro-
gram suited to give to the experiments the stamp of clear-
ness and to furnish evidence that was lacking, the medium
invariably declared that, if we did so, the success of the
seance would thereby be made impossible. In fine, we did
not experiment in the true sense of the word : we were obliged
to be content with observing that which occurred under the
unfavorable circumstances imposed by the medium. Even
when mere observation was pushed a little too far, the phe-

MY EXPERIMEXTS WITH EUSAPIA 65

nomena were no longer produced or lost their intensity and
their marvellous nature. Nothing is m<H« o£Fensive than
these games of hide-and-seek to which we are oUiged to
submit.

All that kind of thing excites distrust Having passed
all my life in the study of nature, which is always sincere
in its manifestations and logical in its processes^ it is re-
pugnant to me to turn my thoughts to the investigation of a
class of truths, which it seems as if a malevolent and disloyal
power was hiding from us with an obstinacy the motive of
which we cannot comprehend. In such researches it is not
sufficient to employ the ordinary methods of natural philoso-
phy, which are. infallible, but very limited in their action.
We must have recourse to that other critical method, more
subject to error, but more audacious and more powerful, of
which police officers and examining magistrates make use
when they are trvinir to brinir out a truth in the midst of
disagreeing witnc^Tcs, a part at least of whom have an inter-
est in hiding that truth.

In accordance with these reflections, I cannot say that I
am convinced of the reality of the things which are comprised
under the ill-chosen name of Spiritualism. But neither do
I believe in our right to deny everything; for, in order to
have a good basis for denial, it is not sufficient to suspect
fraud, it is necessary to prove it. Those experiments, which
I have found very unsatisfactory, other experimenters of
great confidence and of established reputation have been able
to make in more favorable circumfltan(*o8. I have not enougti
presumption to oppose a dogmatic and unwarranted denial
to proofs in which scientists of great critical ability, such
as MM. Crookes, Wallace, Richet, Oliver Ixxlge, have found
a solid basis of fact and one worthy their examination, to
such an extent that they have given to it years of study.
And we should deceive ourselves if we believed that men
convinced of the truth of Spiritualism are all fanatics. Dur-
ing the experiments of 1892 I had the pleasure of knowing
some of these men. I was obliged to admire their sincere de-
sire to know the truth ; and I found, in the case of several
of them, philosophic ideas very sensible and very profound,
joined to a moral character altogether worthy of esteem.

66 MYSTERIOUS PSTCHIO FORCES

That is the reason why it is impossible for me to declare
that Spiritualism is a ridiculous absurdity. I ought^ then, to
abstain from pronoimcing any opinion whatever: my mental
state on this subject may be defined by the word ^^ agnoe-
ticism."

I have read with much attention all that the late Pro-
fessor ZoUner has written on this subject. His explanation
has a purely material basis, — that is to say, it is the hy-
pothesis of the objective existence of a fourth dimension of
space, an existence which cannot be comprised within the
scope of our intuition, but the possibility of which cannot be
denied on that ground alone. Once grant the reality of the
experiments which he describes, and it is evident that his
theory of these things is the most ingenious and probable
that can be imagined. According to this theory, mediumistio
phenomena would lose their mystic or mystifying character
and would pass into the domain of ordinary physics and of
physiology. They would lead to a very considerable exten-
sion of the sciences, an extension such that their author would
deserve to be placed side by side with Galileo and Newton.
Unfortunately, these experiences of Zollner were made with
a medium of poor reputation. It is not only the sceptics
who doubt the good faith of M. Slade : it is the Spiritualists
themselves. M. Aksakof, whose authority is very great in
similar matters, told me himself that he had detected him
in trickery. You see by this that these theories of Zollner
lose any support they might have derived from the exact
demonstration of experiment, at the same time that they re-
main very beautiful, very ingenious, and quite possible.

Yes, quite possible in spite of everything; in spite of the
lack of success that I had when I tried to reproduce them
with Eusapia. On the day when we shall be enabled to
make, with absolute sincerity, a single one of these experi-
ments, the matter will have made great progress; from the
hands of charlatans it will have passed into those of physi-
cists and physiologists.

Such is the communication made to me by M. Schiapa-
relli. I found his reasoning to be without defect, and it
was in a state of mind entirely analogous to his that I ar-

MT EXPERIMENTS WITH ETTSAPI/C 67

livei at Monfort-FAiiuiuTy (with all the more interest be-
cause Slade was one of the mediums of whom I was just now
speaking).

Eusapia Paladino was introduced to me. She is a woman
of very ordinary appearance, a brunette, her figure a little
imder the medium hei^t. She was forty-three years old, not
at all neurotic, rather stout She was bom on January 21,
1854, in a village of La Pouille; her mother died while giv-
ing birth to the child; her father was assassinated eight
years afterward, in 1862, by brigands of southern Italy.
Eusapia Paladino is her maiden name. She was married
It Naples to a merchant of modest means named Raphael
Delgaiz, a citizen of Naples. She manages the petty busi-
ness of the shop, is illiterate, does not know how to either
read or write, understands only a little French. I con-
Tersed with her, and soon perceived that she has no theories
and does not burden herself by trying to explain the phe-
nomena produced by her.

The salon in which we are going to conduct our experi-
ments is a room on the ground floor, rectangular, measuring
twenty feet in length by nineteen in breadth ; there are four
windows, an outside entrance door and another in the vesti-
bule.

Before the sitting, I make sure that the large doors and
windows are closely shut by window-blinds with hooks and
by wooden blinds on the inside. The door of the vestibule
13 simply locked with a key.

In an angle of the salon, at the left of the large entrance
door, two curtains of a light color have been stretched on
& rod, joining in the middle and forming thus a \ittle cabinet.
In this cabinet there is a sofa, and leaning against this a
^itar; on one side is a chair, on which have been placed
a musie-box and a bell. In the recess of the window which
IS included in the cabinet there is a music-rack, upon which

68 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

has been placed a plate containing a well-smoothed cake of
glazier's puttj^ and under which^ on the floor, is a huge tray
containing a large smoothed cake of the same. We have
prepared these plaques of putty because the annals of Spir*
itualism have often shown the imprint of hands and of
heads produced by the unknown beings whom it is our busi-
ness in this work to investigate. The large tray weighs
about nine pounds.

Why this dark cabinet ? The medium declares it is neces-
sary to the production of the phenomena ^^ that relate to the
condensation of fluids.''

I should prefer that there should be nothing of the kind.
But the conditions must be accepted, though we must have
an exact understanding about theuL Behind the curtain
the stillness of the aerial waves is at its maximum, the
light at its minimum. It is curious, strange, infinitely re-
grettable that light prohibits certain effects. Undoubtedly,
it would not be either philosophic or scientific to oppose this
condition. It is possible that the radiations, the forces,
which act may be the rays of the invisible end of the spectrum,
I have already had occasion to remark, in the first chapter,
that ho who would seek to make photographs without a dark
chamber would cloud over his plate and obtain nothing.
The man who would deny the existence of electricity be-
cause he had been imable to obtain a spark in a damp atmos-
phere would be in error. He who would not believe in the
existence of stars because we only see them at night would
not be very wise. Modem progress in natural philosophy
has taught us that the radiations that impinge on the retina
represent only the smallest fraction of the totality. We
can then admit the existence of forces which do not act in
the full light of day. But, in accepting these conditions,
the essential point is not to be their dupe.

Hence, before the seance, I examined carefully the nar-

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 69

row oomer of the room before which the curtain was
stretched, and I found nothing except the objects mentioned
above. Nowhere in the room was there any sign whatever
of concealed mechanism, no electric wires or batteries or any-
thing of the kind, either on the floor or in the walls. More-
over, the perfect sincerity of M. and Mme. Blech is beyond
all suspicion.

Before the seance, Eusapia was undressed and dressed
before Mme. Zelma Blech. Nothing suspicious was found.
The sitting was begun in full light, and I constantly laid
stress upon obtaining the largest number of phenomena we
could in the full light of day. It was only gradually, ac-
cording as the ** spirit " b^gcd for it, that the li^t was
turned down. But I obtained the concession that the dark-
ness should never be absolute. At the last limit, when the
li^t had to be entirely extinguished, it was replaced by one
of the red lanterns used by photographers.

The medium sits before the curtain, turning her back
to it A table is placed before her, — a kitchen table, made
of spruce, weighing about fifteen pounds. I examined this
table and found nothing in it suspicious. It could be moved
about in every direction.

I sit at first on the left of Eusapia, then at her right
side. I make sure as far as possible of her hands, her l^s,
and her feet, by personal control. Thus, for example, to
begin with, in order to be sure that she should not lift the
table either by her hands or her legs, or her feet, I take
ber left hand in my left hand, I place my right open hand
upon her knees, and I place my right foot upon her left
foot Facing me, M. Qnillaume de Fontenay, no more dis-
posed than I to be duped, takes charge of her right hand and
ter right foot

There is full light, — a big kerosene lamp with a wide
burner and a light yellow shade, besides two lighted candles.

70 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

At the end of three minutes the table b^ins to move,
balancing itself, and rising sometimes to the ri^t, some-
times to the left A minute afterwards it is lifted entirely
from the floor, to a height of about nine inches, and remains
there two seconds.

In a second trial, I take the two hands of Eusapia in
mine. A notable levitation is produced, nearly under the
same conditions.

We repeat the same experiments thrice, in such a way that
five levitations of the table take place in a quarter of an
hour, and for several seconds the four feet are completely
lifted from the floor, to the height of about nine inches.
During one of the levitations the experimenters did not
touch the table at all, but formed the chain above it and in
the air; and Eusapia acted in the same way.

So then it seems that an object can be lifted, in opposi-
tion to the law of gravity, without the contact of the hands
which have just been acting upon it (Proof already given
above, pp. 5-8, 16.)

A round centre table placed at my right comes forward
without contact towards the table, always in full light, be it
understood, as if it would like to climb up on it, and
falls down. Nobody has moved aside or approached the
curtain, and no explanation of this movement can be given.
The medium has not yet entered into a trance and continues
to take part in the conversation.

Five raps in the table indicate, according to a conven-
tion arranged by the medium, that the unknown cause asks
for less light This is always annoying : I have already said
what I think of this. The candles are blown out, the lamp
turned down, but the light is strong enough for us to see
very distinctly everything that takes place in the salon.
The round table, which I had lifted and set aside, ap-
proaches the table and tries several times to climb up on it

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 71

I lean upon it in order to keep it down, but I experience an
elastic resistance and am unable to do so. The free edgey ..
the round table places itself on the edge of the rectang af
table, but, hindered by its triangular foot, it does not , .ac-
ceed in clearing itself sufficiently to climb upon it. S Incoi:
I am holding the medium, I ascertain that she maki no
effort of the kind that would be needed for this style o> per-
formance.

The curtain swells out and approaches my face. 7 1 is at
this moment that the medium falls into a trance. Bhe ut-
ters sighs and lamentations and only speaks now in the
third person, saying that she is John King, a psychic per-
sonality who claims to have been her father in another exist-
ence and who calls her '^ my daughter " (mia figlid). This is
an autosuggestion proving nothing sh to the identity of the
force.

Five new taps ask for still less light, and the lamp is
ahnofit completely turned doi^Ti, but not extinguished. The
eyes, growing accustomed to the clare-obscure, still distin-
guish pretty well what is taking place.

The curtain swells out again, and I feel that I am touched
on the shoulder, through the stuff of the curtain, as if by a
closed fist The chair in the cabinet, upon which are placed
the music-box and the bell, is violently shaken, and the ob-
jects fall to the floor. The medium asks again for less
light, and a red photographic lantern is placed upon the
piano, the light of the lamp being extinguished. The con-
trol is rigorously kept up, the medium agreeing to it with
the greatest docility.

For about a minute the music-box plays intermittent airs
behind the curtain, as if it was turned by some hand.

The curtain moves fonvard again toward mc, and a rather
strong hand seizes my ann. I immediately reach forward
to seize the hand, but I grasp only the empty air. I

72 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

: hen press the two legs of the medium between mine and I
fti^-e her left hand in my right On the other side, her right
hai 1 is firmly held in the left hand of M. de Fontenay.
The 1 Eusapia brings the hand of the last named toward my
chee .y and imitates upon the cheek, with the finger of M.
de J mtenay, the movement of a little revolving crank or
hand e. The music-box, which has one of these handles,
plays at the same time behind the curtain in perfect syn-
chronitn. The instant that Eusapia's hand stops, the
music istops: all the movements correspond, just as in the
Morse telegraphic system. We all amused ourselves with
this. The thing was tried several times in succession, and
every time the movement of the finger tallied the playing of
the music.

I feel several touches in the back and on the side. M. de
Fontenay receives a hard slap on the back that everybody
hears. A hand passes through my hair. The chair of M.
de Fontenay is violently pulled, and a few moments after-
wards he cries, " I see the silhouette of a man passing be-
tween M. Flammarion and me, above the table, shutting out
the red light ! "

This thing is repeated several times. I do not myself
succeed in seeing this silhouette. I tlien propose to M. de
Fontenay that I take his place, for, in that case, I should be
likely to see it also. I soon distinctly perceive a dim sil-
houette passing before the red lantern, but I do not recog-
nize any precise form. It is only an opaque shadow (the
profile of a man) which advances as far as the light and
retires.

In a moment, Eusapia says there is some one behind the
curtain. After a slight pause she adds:

" There is a man by my side, on the right : he has a great
soft forked beard." I ask if I may touch this beard. In

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 73

&ct, while lifting my hand, I foci a rather aoft beard
brushing against it.

A block of paper is put on the table with a lead-pencil,
with the hope of getting writing. This pencil is flipped
dear across the room. I then take the block of paper and
hold it in the air: it is snatched violently from me, in spite
of all my efforts to retain it At this moment, M. de
Fontenay, with his back turned to the light, sees a hand
(a white hand and not a shadow), the arm showing as far
IS the elbow, holding the block of paper ; but all the others
declare that they only see the paper shaking in the air.

I did not see the hand snatch the packet of paper from
me; bat only a hand could have been able to seize it with
inch violence, and this did not appear to be the hand of the
medium, for I held her right hand in my left, and the paper
with arm extended in my right hand, and M. de Fontenay
declared that he did not let go of her left band.

I was struck several times in the side, touched on the
head, and my ear was smartly pinched. I declare that after
several repetitions I bad enough of this ear pinching; but
during the whole seance, in spite of my protestations, some-
body kept hitting me.

The little round table, placed outside of the cabinet, at
the left of the medium, approaches the table, climbs clear
up on it and lies across it. The guitar in the cabinet is
heard moving about and giving out sounds. The curtain
is puffed out, and the guitar is brought upon the table,
luting upon the shoulder of M. de Fontenay. It is then
laid upon the table, the large end toward the medium. Then
it rises and moves over the heads of the company without
touching them. It gives forth several soimds. The phe-
nomenon lasts about fifteen seconds. It can readily be
seen that the guitar is floating in the air, and the reflection
0^ the red lamp glides over its shining surface. A rather

74 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

bright gleaniy pear-shaped, is seen on the ceiling in the
other comer of the room.

The medium^ who is tired, asks for rest The candles
are lighted. Mme. Blech returns the objects to their places,
ascertains that the cakes of putty are intact, places the
smallest upon the little round table and the large one upon
the chair in the cabinet, behind the medium. The sitting
is resumed by the feeble glimmer of the red lantern.

The medium, whose hands and feet are carefully con-
trolled by M. do Fontenay and myself, breathes heavily.
Above her head the snapping of fingers is heard. She still
pants, groans, and sinks her fingers into my hand. Three
raps are heard. She cries, "It is done'^ {'^ E faito**).
M. de Fontenay brings the little dish beneath the light of
the red lantern and discovers the impression of four fingers
in the putty, in the position which they had taken when she
gripped my hand.

Seats are taken, the medium asks for rest, and a little
light is turned on.

The sitting is soon resumed as before, by the extremely
feeble light of the red lantern. John is spoken of as if he
existed, as if it was he whose head we perceived in silhouette ;
he is asked to continue his manifestations, and to show
the impression of his head in the putty, as he has already
several times done. Eusapia replies that it is a difficult
thing and asks us not to think of it for a moment, but to
go on speaking. These suggestions of hers are always dis-
quieting, and we redouble our attention, though without
speaking much. The mediiun pants, groans, writhes. The
chair in the cabinet on which the putty is placed is heard
to move. The chair comes forward and places itself by the
side of the medium, then it is lifted and placed upon the
head of Mme. Z. Blech, while the tray is lightly placed in
the hands of M. Blech, at the other end of the table. Eu-

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 75

sapia cries that she sees before her a head and a bust, and
sajs, •' E fatto " (" It is done "). We do not believe her,
because M. Blech has not felt any pressure on the dish.
Three violent blows as of a mallet are struck upon the table.
The li^t IS turned on, and a human profile is found im-
printed upon the putty.

Mme. Z. Blech kisses Eusapia upon both cheeks, for the
purpose of finding out whether her face has not some odor
(glazier's putty having a very strong odor of linseed oil
which remains for some time upon the fingers). She dis-
covers nothing abnormal

This discovery of a '^ spirit head" in the putty is so
astonishing, so impossible to admit without sufficient veri-
fication, that it is really still more incredible than all the
rest It is not the head of the man whose profile I per-
ceived, and the beard I felt on my hand is not there. The
imprint has a resemblance to Eusapia's face. If we sup-
posed she produced it herself, that she was able to bury her
nose up to the cheeks and up to the eyes in that thick putty,
we should still have to explain how that large and heavy
tray was transported from the other end of the table and
gently placed in the hands of M. Blech.

The resemblance of the imprint to Eusapia was undenia-
ble. I reproduce both the print and the portrait of the
medium.* Every one can assure himself of it. The sim-
plest thing, evidently, is to suppose the Italian woman im-
printed her face in the putty.

But how?

We are in the dark as to this, or nearly so. I sit at the
ri^t hand of Eusapia, who rests her head upon my left
shoulder, and whose right hand I am holding. M. de Fon-
tcnay is at her left, and has taken great care not to let go

* See PL IV. and V. I prsMrve with care a plaster caet of this im-
print.

76 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

of the other hand. The tray of putty^ weighing nine
pounds, has been placed upon a chair, twenty inches behind
the curtain, consequently behind Eusapia. She cannot
touch it without turning around, and we have her entirely in
our power, our feet on hers. Now the chair upon which
was the tray of putty has drawn aside the hangings, or por-
tieres, and moved forward to a point above the head of the
mediiun, who remained seated and held down by us ; moved
itself also over our heads, — the chair to rest upon the head
of my neighbor, Mme. Blech, and the tray to rest softly in
the hands of M. Blech, who is sitting at the end of the table.
At this moment Eusapia rises, declaring that she sees upon
the table another table and a bust, and cries out, '' E fatto "
(" It is done "). It was not at this time, surely, that she
would have been able to place her face upon the cake, for it
was at the other end of the table. Nor was it before this,
for it would have been necessary to take the chair in one
hand and the cake with the other, and she did not stir from
her place. The explanation, as can be seen, is very difficult
indeed. ^

Let us admit, however, that the fact is so extraordinary
that a doubt remains in our mind, because the medium rose
from her chair almost at the critical moment. And yet her
face was inunediately kissed by Mme. Blech, who perceived
no odor of the putty.

Dr. Ochorowicz writes as follows apropos of these prints
of faces and of the study which he made of them at Rome :*

The imprint of this face was obtained in darkness, yet at
a moment when I held the two hands of Eusapia, while my
arms were entirely around her. Or, rather, it was she who
clung to me in such a way that I had accurate knowledge of
the position of all her limbs. Her head rested against mine,

• A. de Rochas, The Ej-Urnalization of Motimty, fourth edition, 1900,
p. 406.

MY EXPEEIAEEXTS WITH EUSAPIA 77

And even with violence. At the moment of the production
of the phenomenon a convulsive trembling shook her whole
body, and the pressure of her head on mj temples was so
intense that it hurt me.

At the moment when the strongest convulsion took placep
she cried, " Ah, che dura! " (*' Oh, how severe! '') We at
once lighted a candle and found a print, rather poor in com-
pariaon with those which other experimenters have obtained,
— a thing due, perhaps, to the bad quality of the clay which
I used. This clay was placed about twenty inches to the
right of the medium, while her head was inclined to the left.
Her face was not at all soiled by the clay, which was yet so
moist as to leave traces upon the fingers when touched.
Moreover, the contact cf her head with mine made me suffer
so much that I am absolutely sure it was not intermitted for
a single moment Eusapia was very happy when she saw a
verification made under conditions in which it was impossi-
ble to suspect her good faith.

I then took the tray of clay, and we passed into the dining-
room in order to better examine the imprint, which I placed
on a large table near a big !:ero8ene lamp. Eusapia, who
had fallen into a trance, remained for some moments stand-
ing, her hands resting upon the table, motionless and as if
unconscious. I did not lose sight of her, and she looked
at me without seeing anything. Then, with an uncertain
step, she moved backward toward the door and passed slowly
into the chamber which we had just left We followed her,
observing her all the while, and leaving the clay behind upon
the table. We had already got into the chamber when, lean-
ing against one of the halves of the double door, she fixed
her eyes upon the tray of clay which had been left upon the
table. The medium was in a very good light: we were
separated from her by a distance of from six to ten feet, and
we perceived distinctly all the details. All of a sudden
Eusapia stretched her hand out abruptly toward the clay,
then sank down uttering a groan. We rushed precipi-
tately towards the table and saw, side by side with the im-
print of the head, a new imprint, very marked, of a hand
which had been thus produced under the very light of the
lamp, and which resembled the hand of Eusapia. I have.

78 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

myself^ obtained head prints a dozen times, but always rather
poor, owing to the quality of the clay, and often broken
while the experiment was going on.

The Chevalier Chiaia, of Kaples, who first obtained these
fantastic pictures through the agency of Eusapia, wrote as
follows, in this connection, to Count de Rochas:

I have imprints in boxes of clay weighing anywhere be-
tween fifty-five and sixty-five pounds. I mention the weight
in order to let you see the impossibility of lifting and trans-
porting mth one hand alone so heavy a tray, even upon the
supposition that Eusapia might, unknown to us, free one
of her hands. In almost eveiy case, in fact, this tray, placed
upon a chair three feet behind the medium, was brought for-
ward and placed very gently upon the table about which we
were seated. The transfer was made with such nicety that
the persons who formed the chain and held firmly the hands
of Eusapia did not hear the least noise, did not perceive the
least rustling. We were forewarned of the arrival of the tray
upon the table by seven taps, which, according to our conven-
tional arrangement, John struck in the wall to inform us that
we could turn on the light. I did so at once by turning the
cock of the gas-fixture which was suspended above the table.
(We had never completely extinguished it.) We then found
the tray upon the table, and, upon the clay, the imprint which
we supposed must have been made before its transfer, and
while it was behind Eusapia, in the cabinet where John usu-
ally materializes and manifests himself.

The totality of these observations (which are very nu-
merous) leads us to the thought that, in spite of the improb-
ability of the thing, these imprints are produced at a dis-
tance by the medium.

However, some days after the seance at Montfort-PAm-
aury I wrote as follows:

These diflFerent manifestations are not to me equally au-
thentic. I am not sure of all of them, for the phenomena

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 79

were not all produced under the same conditions of certainty.
I should wish to class the facts in the following order of de-
creasing certainty:

1. Levitations of the table.

2. Movements of the round table without contact.

3. Mallet blows.

4. Movements of the curtain.

5. Opaque silhouette passing before the red lamp.

6. Sensation of a beard upon the back of the hand.

7. Touchings.

8. Snatching of the block of paper.

9. Throwing of the lead-pencil.

10. Transference of the round table to the top of the other

table.

11. Music from the little box.

12. Transfer of the guitar to a point above the head.

13. Imprints of a hand and of a face.

The first four events, having taken place in full light, are
incontestable. I should put almost in the same rank Nos.
5 and 6. No. 7 may perhaps be due very often to fraud.
The last in the list, having been produced toward the end of
the seance, at a time when attention was necessarily relaxed,
and being still more extraordinary than all the others, I con-
fess that I cannot admit it with certainty, although I can
not understand how it could have been due to fraud. The
four others seem genuine ; but I should like to olwor\'e thorn
anew; a man could wager ninety-nine to one hundred that
they are true. I was absolutely sure of them during the
seance. But the vividness of the impressions grows weak,
and we have a tendency to listen only to the voice of plain
common sense, — the most reasonable and the most deceptive
of our faculties.

The first impression we get upon the reading of these re-
ports is that these different manifestations are rather vulgar,
altogether banal, and do not tell us anything about the other
world — or about other worlds. Surely it does not seem
probable that any spirittuil being would take part in such
performances. For these phenomena are of an absolutely
material class.

80 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

On the other hand^ however^ it is impossible not to rec-
ognize the existence of unknown forces. The simple fact,
for example^ of the levitation of a table to a height of six
and one-half) eighty sixteen inches from the floor is not banal
at alL It seems to me, speaking for myself alone, so ex-
traordinary that mj opinion is very well expressed when I
say that I do not dare to admit it without having seen it
myself, with my own eyes: I mean that which is called
seeing, in full light and vnder such conditions that it would
be impossible to suspect. While we are very sure that we
have proved it, we are at the same time sure that in such
experiments there emanates from the human body a force
that may be compared with the magnetism of the loadstone,
able to act upon wood, upon matter (somewhat as the load-
stone acts upon iron), and counterbalancing for some mo-
ments the action of gravity. From the scientific point of
view, that is a weighty fact in itself. I am absolutely cer-
tain that the medium did not lift that weight of fifteen
poimds either by her hands or by her legs, or by her feet,
and, furthermore, no one of the company was able to do it.
The table was lifted by its upper surface. We are, there-
fore, certainly in the presence of an unknown force here
which emanates from the persons present, and above all from
the medium.

A rather curious observation ought to be made here.
Several times during the course ( f this seance, and during
the levitation of the table, I said, *^ There is no spirit."
Every time I said this two violent blows of protestation were
struck in the table. I have already remarked that, gener-
ally, we are supposed to admit the Spiritualistic hypothesis
and to ask a spirit to exert himself in order that we may
obtain the phenomena. We have here a psychological mat-
ter not without importance. Still, it does not seem to me,
for all that, to prove the real existence of spirits, for it might

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 81

happen that this idea was necessary to the concentration of
the forces present and had a purely subjective value. Re-
ligious zealots who believe in the efficacy of prayer are the
dupes of their own imagination; and yet no one can doubt
that certain of these petitions appear to have been granted
fay a beneficent deity. The Italian or Spanish girl who
goes to beg of the Virgin Mary that she will punish her lover
for an infidelity may be sincere^ and never suspects the
strangeness of her request. In dreams we all converse
every night with imaginary beings. But there is something
more here: the medium really duplicates herself.

I take the point of view solely of the physicist whose
business is to observe, and I say, whatever may be the
explanatory hypothesis you may adopt, there exists an invis-
ible force derived from the organism of the medium, and hav-
ing the power to emerge from him and to act outside of him.
That is the fact: what is the best hypothesis to explain
it ? 1. Is it the medium who herself acts, in an unconscious
manner, by means of an invisible force emanating from her ?
2. Is it an intelligent cause apart from her, a soul that has
already lived u})on this earth, who draws from the medium
a force which it needs in order to act ? 3. Is it another
kind of invisible beings? Nothing authorizes us to affirm
that there may not exist, side by side with us, living, invis-
ible forces. There you have three very diflFerent hypotheses,
none of which seems to me, as far as my personal experience
goes, to be as yet conclusively proved*

But there certainly emanates from the medium an invis-
ible force; and the participants, by forming the psychic
chain and by uniting their sympathetic wills, increase this
force. This force is not immateriaL It may be a sub-
stance, an agent emitting radiations of wave-lengths which
make no impression on our retina, and which are neverthe-
less very powerful In the absence of light rays it is able

82 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

to condense itself, take shape, affect even a certain resem-
blance to the human body, to act as do our organs, to vio-
lently strike a table, or touch us.

It acts as if it were an independent being. But this inde-
pendence does not really exist; for this transitory being is
intimately connected with the organism of the medium, and
its apparent existence ceases when the conditions of its pro-
duction themselves cease.

While writing these monstrous scientific heresies, I feel
very deeply that it is diflScult to accept them. Still, after
all, who can trace the limits of science! We have all
learned, especially during the last quarter of a century, that
our knowledge is not a very colossal affair, and that, apart
from astronomy, there is as yet no exact science founded
upon absolute principles. And then, when all is said, there
are the facts to be explained. Doubtless it is easier to deny
them. But it is not decent or civil. He who has merely
failed to find what satisfies him has no right to deny. The
best he can do is simply to say, " I know nothing about it."

The fact is that, as yet, we have not elementary data
enough to enable us to characterize these forces ; but we ought
not to lay the blame upon those who study them.

To sum up, I believe that I am able to go a little farther
than M. Schiaparelli and affirm the certain existence of
unknown forces capable of moving matter and of counter-
balancing the action of gravity. There is a complex totality,
as yet difficult to disentangle, of psychic and physical forces.
But such facts, however extravagant they may appear, are
worthy of coming within the sphere of scientific observation.
It is even probable that they tend powerfully to elucidate
the problem (a matter of supreme importance to us) of the
nature of the human soul.

After the end of that seance of the 27th of July, 1897,
as I desired to see again the levitation of a table in full

MY EXPERIMEXTS WITH EUSAPIA 83

h^tj tbe chain was formed standing, the hands lightly
placed upon the table. The latter began to oscillate, then
rose np to a height of nine inches from the floor, remained
there several seconds (all the participators remaining on
their feet), and fell heavily back again.*

M« 6. de Fontenay succeeded in getting several photo-
graphs by the magnesium lig^t. I reproduce two of them
here (PL VI.). There are five experimenters who are, from
left to right, M. Blech, Mme. Z. Blech, Eusapia, myself,
Mile. Blech. In the first photograph the table rests upon
the floor. In the second it floats in air, coming up as high
as the arms, at a height of about ten inches on the left and
ei^t inches on the right I hold my right foot resting upon
Eusapia's feet and my right hand upon her knees. With
my left hand I hold her left hand. The hands of all the
others are upon the table. It is therefore altogether impos-
sible for her to employ any muscular action. This photo-
graphic record confirms that of PI. I., and it seems to
me di£Scult not to recognize its undeniable documentary
value-t

After this seance my most ardent desire was to sec the
same experiments reproduced at my own house. In spite
of all the care I took with my observations, several objec-
tions can be taken to the absolute certainty of the phenomena.
The most important arises from the existence of the little
dark cabinet. Personally, I was sure of the perfect probity
of the honorable Blech family, and I am unable to accept the
idea of any trickery whatever on the part of any of its mem-
bers. But the opinion of readers of the formal report may

*The reports of the sittings at Montfort-l'Amaury form the subject
of a remarkable work by M. Guillaume de Fontenay, Apropos of Eu-
*i^ Paladino, one vol., Svo. illustrated, Paris, 1898.

tThe respective places of the persons were not always those of the
photographs. Thus, at the time of the production of the imprint, M.
0. de Fontenay was at the right of Eusapia, and M. Blech at the same
^ of the table.

84 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

not be 80 well assured. It was not impossible that^ even
unknown to the members of the family^ some one^ with the
connivance of the medium, glided into the room, favored by
the dim light, and produced the phenomena* An accom-
plice entirely clothed in black and walking barefoot would
have been able to hold the instruments up in the air, put
them in movement, make the touches, and cause the black
mask to move at the end of a rod, etc.

This objection could be verified or quashed by renewing
the experiments at my house, in a room of my own^ where
I should be absolutely certain that no confederate could
enter. I should myself arrange the curtain, I should place
the chairs, I should be certain that Eusapia would come
alone to my apartments, she would be asked to undress and
dress in the presence of two lady examiners, and every sup-
position of fraud alien to her proper personality would thus
be annihilated.

At this epoch (1898) I was preparing, for VAnnales
politiques et litteraires, some articles upon psychic phe-
nomena, which, revised and amplified, afterwards formed
my work. The Unhnotvn. The eminent and sympathetic
editor of the review showed himself assiduous in exam-
ining with me the best means of realizing this scheme of
personal experiences. Upon our invitation, Eusapia came
to Paris to pass the month of November, 1898, and to devote
eight soirees especially to us — namely, the 10th, 12th, 14th,
16th, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 28th of November. We had
invited several friends to be present. Each one of these
seances was the subject of a formal report by several of those
who were present, notably by MM. Charles Richet, A. de
Rochas, Victorien Sardou, Jules Claretie, Adolphe Brisson,
Rene Baschet, Arthur Levy, Gustave Le Bon, Jules Bois,
Gaston Mery, G. Delanne, G. de Fontenay, G. Armelin,
Andre Bloch, etc

MY EXPERIMEXTS WITH EUSAPIA 85

We met in my salon in the avenue de PObaervatoire, in
Paris. There were no special arrangementSy except the
stretching of two curtains in one comer, before the angle of
two walls, thus forming a kind of triangular cabinet, the
walls about which are there unbroken, without door or win-
dow. The front of the cabinet was closed fay these two
curtains, reaching from the ceiling to the floor and meeting
in the middle.

It is before this kind of cabinet that the reader will please
imagine the medium to be seated, with a white wooden table
(kitchen table) before her.

Behind the curtain, upon the plinth of the projection of
a bookcase and upon a table, we placed a guitar, also a
violin, a tambourine, an accordion, a music-box, cushions,
and several small objects, which were to be shaken, seized,
thrown about by the unknown force.

The first result of these seances in Paris, at my house, was
absolutely to establish the fact that the hypothesis of a con-
federate is inadmissible and ought to be entirely eliminated.
Eusapia acts alone.

The fifth seance led me, moreover, to think that the phe-
nomena take place (at least a certain number) when the
hands of Eusapia are closely held by two controllers, that it
in not generally with her hands that she acts, in spite of
certain possible trickeries ; for it would be necessary to admit
(an abominable heresy!) that a third hand could be formed
in organic connection with her body !

Before every seance Eusapia was undressed and dressed
again in the presence of two ladies charged with seeing that
she did not hide any tricking apparatus under her clothes.

It would be a little long to go thoroughly into the details of
these eight sittings, and it would be partly to go over what
has already been described and commented upon in the first
chapter, as well as in the preceding pages. But it will

86 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

not be iLniiiteresting to give here the estimate of several of
the sitters, by reproducing some of the reports.

I will b^n with that of M. Arthiir LSvy, because he
describes very fully the installation, the impression produced
upon him by a medium, and the greater part of the facts
observed.

Report of H. Arthur Ltfvy

{Seance of November 16)

That which I am going to relate I saw yesterday at yoiir
house. I saw it with distrust, closely observing all that
might have resembled trickery; and, after I had seen it, I
found it so far beyond the things that we are accustomed to
conceive that I still ask myself if I really saw it. Yet I
must confess that I have not been dreaming.

When I arrived at your salon, I found the furniture and
all the other arrangements as usual. On entering, only a
single change could be remarked at the left, where two thick
curtains of gray and green rep concealed a little comer.
Eusapia was to perform her wonders before this kind of
alcove. This was the mysterious comer : I examined it very
minutely. It had in it a little round uncovered table, a
tambourine, a violin, an accordion, castanets, and one or two
cushions. After this precautionary visit, I was certain that
in this place at least ihere was no preparation, and that no
communication with the outside was possible.

I hasten to say that from this moment up to the end of
the experiments we did not leave the room for a single min-
ute, and that, so to speak, we had our eyes constantly fixed
upon this comer, the curtains of which, however, were al-
ways partly open.

Some moments after my examination of the cabinet Eusa-
pia arrives, — the famous Eusapia. As almost always hap-
pens, she looks quite different from what I had anticipated.
Where I had expected to see — • I do not well know why, in-
deed — a tall thin woman with a fixed look, piercing eyes,
with bony hands, and abrupt movements, agitated by nerves

MY EXPERIMEXTS WITH EUSAPTA' 87

inoeasantly trembling under perpetual tension^ I find a
woman in the fortieSi rather plump, with a tranquil air^ soft
handy simple in her manners, and slightly shrinking. Alto-
gether, she has the air of an excellent woman of the people.
Yet two things arrest the attention when you look at her.
First, her large eyes, filled with strange fire^ sparkle in their
orbits, or, again, seem filled with swift gleams of phos-
phorescent fire, sometimes bluish, sometimes golden. If I
did not fear that the metaphor was too easy when it con-
cerns a Neapolitan woman, I should say that her eyes appear
like the glowing lava fires of Vesuvius, seen from a distance
in a dark night.

The other peculiarity is a mouth with strange contours.
We do not know whether it expresses amusement, suffering,
or scorn. These peculiarities impress themselves on the
mind almost simultaneously, without our knowing on which
one to fix the attention. Perhaps we should find in these
features of her face an indication of forces which are acting
in her, and of which she is not altogether the miatreas.

She takes a seat, enters into all the commonplaces of the
conversation, speaking in a pen tie, melodious voice, like many
women of her country. She uses a language difficult for
herself and not less difficult for others, for it is neither
French nor Italian. She makes painful efforts to make her-
self understood, and sometimes does this by mimicry (or
sign-language) and by willing to obtain that which she
wants. However, a persistent irritation of the throat, liko
a pressure of blood returning at short intervals, forces her
to cough, to ask for water. I confess that these paroxysms,
in which her face became deeply flushed, caused me great
anxiety. Were we going to have the inevitable indisposi-
tion of the rare tenor, on the day when he was to be heard on
the stage? Happily, nothing of the kind took place. It
was rather a sign of the contrary, and seemed like a fore-
runner of the extreme excitement which was going to take
possession of her on that evening. In fact, it is very re-
markable that from the moment when she put herself — how
shall I say it ? — in condition for work, the cough, the irri-
tation of the throat, completely disappeared.

When her fingers were placed on black wool, — to be f rank^

88 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

upon the trousers cloth of one of the company, — Eusapia
called our attention to the kind of diaphanous marks made
upon them (the fingers), a distorted, elongated second con-
tour. She tells us that that is a sign that she is going to be
given great power to^iay.

While we are talking some one puts a letter-weigher on
the table. Putting her hands down on each side of the let-
ter-weigher, and at a distance of four inches, she causes the
needle to move to No. 35 engraved on the dial plate of the
weigher. Eusapia herself asked us to convince ourselves,
by inspection, that she did not have a hair leading from one
hand to the other, and with which she could fraudulently
'press upon the tray of the letter-weigher. This little by-
play took place when all the lamps of the salon were fully
lighted. Then commenced the main series of experiments.

We sit around a rectangular table of white wood, the com-
mon kitchen table. There are six of us. Close to the cur-
tains, at one of the narrow ends of the table, sits Eusapia ;
at her left, also near the curtains, is M. Georges Mathieu,
an agricultural engineer at the observatory in Juvisy; next
comes my wife ; M. Flammaridn is at the other end, facing
Eusapia; then Mme. Flammarion; finally myself. I am
thus placed at the right hand of Eusapia, and also against
the curtain. M. Mathieu and myself each hold a hand of
the mediimi resting upon his knee, and, furthermore, Eu-
sapia places one of her feet upon ours. Consequently, no
movements of her legs or arms can escape our attention.
Note well, therefore, that this woman has the use only of
her head and of her bust, which latter is of course witliout
the use of the arms, and is in absolute contact with our
shoulders.

We rest our hands on the table. In a few moments it
begins to oscillate, stands on one foot, strikes the fioor, rears
up, rises wholly into the air, — sometimes twelve inches,
sometimes eight inches, from the ground. Eusapia utters a
sharp cry, resembling a cry of joy, of deliverance ; the cur-
tain behind her swells out, and, all inflated as it is, comes
forward upon the table. Otlier raps are heard in the table,
and simultaneously in the fioor at a distance of about ten
feet from us. All this in full light.

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA' FO

Already excited, Eusapia askn in a supplicating voice
and broken words that we lessen the lights. She can-
not endure the dazzling glare in her eyes. She affirms
that she is tortured, wants us to hurry ; '^ for/' she
adds, "" you shall see fine things." After one of us has
placed the lamp on the floor behind the piano, in the comer
opposite the place where we arc (at a distance of about
twenty-three feet), Eusapia n<i longer sees the light and is^
satisfied; but we can distinguish faces and hands. Let it
not be forgotten that M. Mathieu and I each have a foot of
the medium on ours, and that we are holding her hands
and knees, that we are pressing against her shoulders.

The table is always shaking and makes sudden jolts. Eu-
sapia calls to us to look. Above her head appears a hand.
It is a small hand, like that of a little girl of fifteen years,
the palm forward, the fingers joined, the thumb projecting.
The color of this hand is livid ; its form is not rigid, nor is
it fluid; one would say rather that it is the hand of a big
doll stuffed with bran.

When the hand moves back from the brighter light, as it
disappears, — is it an optical illusion? — it seems to lose its
shape, as if the fingers were btdng broken, beginning with
the thumb.

M. Mathieu is violently pushed by a force acting from
behind the curtain. A strong band presses against him, he
says. His chair is also pushed. Something pulls his hair.
While he is complaining of the violence used upon him, we
hear the sound of the tambourine, which is then quickly
thrown upon the table. Next the violin arrives in the same
manner, and we hear its strings sound. I seize the tam-
bourine and ask the Invisible if he wishes to take it I
feel a hand grasping the instrument I am not willing to
let it go. A struggle now ensues between myself and a
force which I judge to be considerable. In the tussle a
violent effort pushes the tambourine into my hand, and the
cymbals penetrate the flesh. I feel a sharp pang, and a good
deal of blood flows. I let go of the handle. I just now as-
i-ortain, by the light, that I have a deep gash under the
riglit thumb nearly an inch h^ng. TIk* table continues to
.^iiaive, to strike the floor with redoubled strokes, and the ac^

90 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

cordioD is thrown upon the table. I seize it by its lower
half and ask the Invisible if he can pull it out by the other
end so as to make it play. The curtain comes forward, and
the bellows of the accordion is methodically moved back and
forth, its keys are touched, and several different notes are
heard.

Eusapia utters repeated cries, a kind of rattling in the
throat. She writhes nervously, and, as if she were calling
for help, cries, '* La catena! la catena I " (" The chain! the
chain!"). We thereupon form the chain by taking hold
of hands. Then, just as if she was defying some monster,
she turns, with inflamed looks, toward an enormous divan,
which thereupon marches up to us. She looks at it with a
Satanic smile. Finally she blows upon the divan, which
goes immediately back to its place.

Eusapia, faint and depressed, remains relatively calm.
Yet she is dejected ; her breast heaves violently ; she lays her
head on my shoulder.

M. Mathieu, tired of the blows which he is constantly re-
ceiving, asks to change places with some one. I agree to this.
He changes with Mme. F., who then sits at the right of
Eusapia, while I am at her left. Mme. F. and I never
cease to hold the feet, hands, and knees of the medium. M.
F. sets a water bottle and a glass in the middle of the table.
The latter's brisk, jolting movements overturn the water
bottle, and the water is spilled over its surface. The me-
dium imperatively requires that the liquid be wiped up;
the water upon the table blinds her, tortures, paralyzes her,
she says. M. F. asks the Invisible if he can pour water
into the glass. After some moments the curtain advances,
the carafe is grasped, and the glass seems to be half full.
That takes place several different times.

Mme. F., being no longer able to endure the blows given
her through the curtain, exchanges scats with her husband.

I put my repeating watch upon the table. I ask the In-
visible if he can sound the alarm. (The mechanism of the
alarm i^very difficult to understand, delicate to operate, even
for me, doing it every day. It is formed by a little tube
cut in two, one half of which glides smoothly over the other.
In reality, there is only a projection of one-fiftieth of an

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 01

inch of thickness of tube, upon which it is necessary to press
with the finger-nail and give quite a posh in order to start
up the alarm.) In a moment the watch is taken by the
^'spirit." We hear the stem-winder turning. The watch
comes back upon the table without having been soimded.

Another request is made for the alarm to sound. The
watch is again taken; the case is heard to open and shut.
(Now I cannot open this case with my hands: I have to pry
it open with a tool like a lever.) The watch comes back
once more without having soundecL

I confess that I experienced a disenchantment I felt
that I was going to doubt the extent of the occult power,
which had, nevertheless, manifested itself very clearly. Why
could it not sound the alarm of this watch ? In making my
request, had I overstepped the limits of its powers? Was
I going to be the cause of all the well-proved phenomena of
which we have had testimony losing the half of their value I
I said aloud:

" Am 1 to show how the alarm is operated ? "

" No, nol " Eusapia warmly replies, "it will do it"

I will note here that at the moment when I proposed to
point out the mechanism, there passed through my mind the
method of pressing upon the little tube. Immediately the
watch was brought back to the table; and, very distinctly,
three separate times, we heard it sound a quarter to eleven.

Eusapia was evidently very tired; her burning hands
seemed to contract or shrivel ; she gasped aloud with heaving
breast, her foot kept quitting mine every moment, scraping
the floor and tediously rubbing along it back and forth.
She uttered hoarse panting cries, shrugging up her shoulders
and sneering; the sofa came forward when she looked at it,
then recoiled before her breath; all the instruments were
thrown pell-mell upon the table ; the tambourine rose almost
to the height of the ceiling; the cushions took part in the
sport, overturning everything on the table; M. M. was
thrown from his chair. This chair — a heavy dining-room
chair of black walnut, with stuffed seat — rose into the air,
came up on the table with a great clatter, then was pushed
off.

Eusapia seems shrunken together and is very much af-

92 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

fected. We pity her. We ask her to stop. " No, no ! "
she cries. She rises^ we with her; the table leaves the floor,
rises to a height of twenty-four inches, then comes clattering
down.

Eusapia sinks prostrated into a chair. We sit there
troubled, amazed, in consternation, with a tense and con-
stricted feeling in the head, as if the atmosphere were
charged with electricity.

With many precautions, M. F. succeeds in calming the
agitation of Eusapia. After about a quarter of an hour she
returns to herself. When the lamps are again lighted, she
is seen to be very much changed, her eye dull, her face ap-
parently diminished to half its usual size. In her trembling
hands she feels the pricking of needles which she asks us to
pull out. Little by little she completely recovers her senses.
She appears to remember nothing, not to comprehend at all
our expressions of wonder. All that is as foreign to her as
if she had not been present at the sitting. She isn't inter-
ested in it So far as she is concerned, it would seem as if
we were speaking of things of which she had not the faintest
idea.

What have we seen ? mystery of mysteries !

We took every precaution not to be the dupes of com-
plicity, of fraud. Superhuman forces acting near us, so
near that we heard the very breatliing of a living being, —
if living being it were, — such are the things our eyes took
cognizance of for two mortal hours.

And when, on looking back, doubts begin to creep into the
mind, we must conclude that, given the conditions in which
we were, the chicanery necessary to produce such effects
would be at least as phenomenal as the effects themselves. .

How shall we name the mystery ?

So much for the report of M. Arthur Levy. I have no
commentary to make at present upon these reports of my fel-
low-experimenters. The essential thing, it seems to me, is to
leave to every one his own exposition and his personal judg-
ment. I shall proceed in the same way with the other re-
ports which are to follow. I shall reproduce the principal

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 03
ones. In spite of aome inevitable repetitions, tbe7 will
rarely be read vith extreme interest, especially when we
take into consideration the high intellectnal standing of the
obeervera.

Beport of M. Adolphe Brisson.

{Seance of November W)

ITbera were pment at IhU atance, besldea the ItMta of the oecaeioa,
U. Pral. Ricbet, H. and Mme. Ad. BriMOD, Mux. Fourton, M. Aadrt
Bloch, U. OeoTgea Hathieu.)

The following are occnrrencea which I personally observed
with the greatest care. I did not once cease to hold in my
ri^t hand the left hand of Eusapia or fail to feel that we
were in contact The contact was only interrupted twice, —
at the moment when Dr. Bichet felt a pricking in his arm.
K\isapia*s hand, making violent movements, escaped from my
grasp; but I seized it again after two or three seconds.

1. After this sitting had begun, — that is, at the end of
about ten minutes, — the table waa lifted up away from Eu-
napia, two of its legs leaving the floor simultaneously.

-2. Five minutes later the curtain swelled out as if it had
been inflated by a strong breeze. My hand, never letting
go of that of Eusapia, pressed gently against the curtain,
and I experienced a resistance, just as if I had pressed
against the sail of a ship bellied out by the wind.

3. Not only waa the curtain puffed
out, forming a big pocket, but the per-
pendicular edge of the curtain that
touched the window moved automatic-
ally aside and drew back as if it were
pushed by an invisible cxirtain holder,
making nearly this kind of a movement.

4. The cnrtain, inflated anew, took
ihe form of a nose or of an eagle's beak, projecting above the
table about eight or ten inches. This shape was visible for
several seconds.

a. We heard behiud the curtain the noise of a chair roll-
ing over the floor ; by a first push it arrived as far as 1 waa ;
a second push tamed it upside down, ita feet in the air, in

94 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the position shown. It was a heavy stuffed chair. Suooeed-

ing pushes moved it again, lifted it up,
and made it turn somersaults ; it finally
came to a standstill almost in the place
where it had fallen over.

6. We heard the noise of two or three
objects falling to the floor (I mean ob-
jects behind the curtain upon the cen-
tre-table). The curtain parted in the middle, and in the dim
light the little violin appeared. Sustained in the air by an
invisible hand, it came gently forward above our table,
whence it settled down upon my hand and upon that of my
neighbor on the left.*

On two separate occasions the violin rose from the table
and at once fell back again, making a vigorous leap, like a
fish flopping upon the sand. Then it glided down to the
floor, where it remained motionless until the end of the
sitting.

7. A new rolling noise was heard behind the curtain.
This time it was the centre-table. A preliminary effort,
quite vigorous, enabled it to rise half-way to the top of our
table. By a second effort it got clear on top and rested upon
my fore-arm.

8. Several times I distinctly felt light blows upon my
right side, as if made with the point of a sharp instrument.
But the truth compels me to declare that these blows were no
longer given after Eusapia's feet were held under the table
by M. Bloch. I note this correlation of things without
drawing from it any presumption against Eusapia's loyalty.
I have so much the less reason to suspect her in that her left
foot did not leave my right foot during the whole sitting.

* In the following sitting, of November 12, M. Antoniadi writes
(with an excellent corroborative sketch): "Phenomenon observed with
absolute certainty; the violin was thrown upon the table, twenty inches
above the head of Eusapia."

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 95

Report of M. Tietorien Sardou

(Seance of November 19)

(There were preBent at this stence, besiden the hosts of the eveiiiiig»
M. V. Sardou, M. and Mme. Brisaon, 31. A. de Rochas. M. Prof. Richet,
IL 6. da FoBtenay, M. Gaston M€tj, Mme. Fourton, M. and Mile, des
Varennes).

I shall only relate here phenomena controlled by myself
personally in the seance of last Saturday. Consequently, I
say nothing of the arrangement of the apartment, of the ex-
perimenters, nor of the events which were first produced in
the dark and which all the participants were ablo to authenti-
cate, — such as cracking sounds in the table, levitations, dis-
placements of the table, raps, etc, as well as the blowing
out of the curtain over the table, the bringing on of the vio-
lin, of the tambourine, and so forth.

Eusapia having invited me to take the place at her side
which had been vacated by M. Brisson, I sat do^vn on her
left, while you preserved your place on her right. I took
her left hand in my right hand, while my left hand placed
upon the table was in contact with that of my neighbor, the
medium insisting on this several times in order that the
chain might not be broken. Her left foot rested ui>on my
right foot. All through the experiment I never Ic^t go her
hand for a single second. She grasped my hand with a
strong pressure, and it followed her through all her move-
ments. In the same way her foot flways kept in contact
with mine. My foot always kept touch with hers in all
her foot scrapings on the floor, her shiftings of place, shrink-
ings, twitchings, etc., which never had anything suspicious
in them, nor were they of such a nature as to explain the
events which took place at my side, behind me, around me,
and upon me.

In the first place, and in less than a minute after I had
been placed on the left of the medium, the curtain nearest
to me was pufiFed out and brushed against me, as if impelled
by a gust of wind. Then three times I felt upon my right
side a pressure which lasted but for a moment, yet was very
marked. At that moment we were in a very dim light, yet

96 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

enough to make the faces and the hands of all who were pres-
ent distinctly visible. After Eusapia's violent nervous con-
tractionsy struggles, and enei^tic pushes (precisely like
those which I had seen in similar cases elsewhere and which
only astonish those who have slightly studied these phe-
nomena ), suddenly the curtain nearest to me was blown for-
ward with an astonishing propulsive power between Eusapia
and me, in the direction of the table, entirely concealing
from me the face of the medium; and the violin, which,
with the tambourine, had, before my introduction, been re-
placed in the dark chamber, was hurled to the middle of
the table, as if by an invisible arm. To accomplish this,
the arm must have lifted the curtain and drawn it along
with it.

After this the curtain returned to its first position, but
not completely; for it still remained puffed out a little be-
tween Eusapia and me, one of its folds remaining upon the
edge of the table at my side.

Then you took the violin and held it out at such a dis-
tance from the two curtains that it was wholly visible to the
company ; and you invited the occult agent to take it.

This was done, the mysterious agent taking it back with
him into the dark closet, with as much good will as he had
shown in bringing it on.

The violin then fell upon the floor behind the curtains,
or portieres. One of these which was nearest to me
resumed its vertical position, and for a time I heard upon
my right upon the floor behind the curtains a kind of scrim-
mage between the violin and the tambourine, which were
displaced, pulled about, and lifted, clashing and resounding
at a great rate; and yet it was impossible to attribute any
of these manifestations to Eusapia, whose foot never moved,
but remained firmly pressed against my ovm.

A little after, I felt against my right leg, behind the cur-
tain, the rubbing of a hard body which was trying to climb
upon me, and I thought it was the violin. And so it was,
in fact; and, after an unsuccessful effort to climb higher
than my knee, this apparently living creature fell with a
bang upon the floor.

Almost immediately I felt a new pressure upon my right

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 97

hip, and mentioned die circumstance. You disengaged
your left hand from the cliain, and, turning toward me,
twice made in the air the gesture of the director of an or-
chestra moving his baton to and fro. And each time, with
perfect precision, I felt upon my side the repercussion of a
blow exactly tallying your gesture, which reached me after
the delay of a second more or less, and which seemed to
me to correspond exactly to the time necessary for the trans-
ference of a billiard ball or a tennis ball from you to me.

Some one, Dr. Ricliet, I believe, having spoken at that
time of strokes upon the shoulders of the sitters in
which the action and shape of a human hand was very
marked, I will mention as a proof of his remark that I
received in succession three blows npon the left shoulder
(that is to say, the one most distant from the curtain and
from the medium), more violent than the preceding ones;
and this time the heavy pressure of the five fingers was
very evident. Then a last blow with the flat of the hand,
applied in the small of the back, without hurting me at all,
was strong enough to make mo lean forward, in spite of my-
self, toward the table.

Some moments after, my chair, moving under me, glided
over the floor, and was shifted in such a way as to leave my
back turned a little in the direction of the dark closet.

I leave to other witnesses the task of telling the results
of their personal observations, — how, for example, the vio-
lin, having been picked up by you from the floor and replaced
upon the table, was held out by Mme. Brisson, as you had
already done, and lifted up in the same way in the sight of
all, while I held the left hand of Eusapia, you her right
hand, and with the hand which remained free you pressed
the wrist of her left hand.

Xor do I say anything of a hand-pressure through the
opening in the curtain, having seen nothing of this myself.

But that which I did see very well indeed was the sud-
den appearance of three very vivid little lights between my
neighbor and myself. They were promptly extinguished
and seemed like a kind of will-o'-the-wisp, similar to elec-
tric sparks coming and going with great rapidity.

In short, I can only repeat here what I have said during

98 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the course of these experiments, " If I had not been con-
vinced forty years ago, I should be this evening."

Report of M. Jnles Claretie.

{Seance of November £5)

(There were present at this sitting, in addition to the hosts of the
occasion, M. Jiiles Claretie and his son, M. Brisson, M. Louis Vig-
non, Mme. Fourton, Mme. Gagneur, M. G. Delanne, M. Ren4 Baschet,
M. and Mme. Basilewaka^ M. Mairet, photographer.)

I note only the impressions I received after the moment
when Eusapia, who had taken my hand at the time when
M. Brisson was still seated by her, asked me to replace him.
I am certain that I did not let go of Eusapia's hand during
all the experiments. Every moment I felt the pressure of
her foot upon mine, the heel being especially perceptible.
I do not believe that I relaxed my fingers for a moment, nor
released the hand that I held, I was struck with the throb-
bing of the arteries at the end of Eusapia's fingers: the
blood bounded feverishly through them.

I sat next the curtain. It goes without saying that it was
drawn from right to left or from left to right just as it
happened. That which I can't understand is that it could
swell out until it floated over the table like a sail inflated by
the wind.

I felt at first a little light blow on my right sida Then,
through the curtain, two fingers seized me and pinched my
cheek. The pressure . of the two fingers was evident A
blow more violent than the first hit me on the right shoulder,
as if it came from a hard, square body. My chair was twice
moved and turned, first backward, then forward.

Those two fingers which pinched my cheek I had already
felt — before I took my place at Eusapia's side — when I
was holding over against the curtain the little white book
which M. Flammarion had given me. This book was seized
by two naked fingers (I say naked, because the folds of the
curtain did not cover them) and then disappeared. I did
not see these fingers: I touched them, or they touched me, if

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 99

jou wilL My son held out and handed over also a leather
dgar-holder, which was grabbed in the same way.

One of the persons present saw a rather heavy little mosio-
box disappear in the same way.

With hardly a moment's delay the box was removed from
our side with some violence ; and I can speak with the more
feeling of the force of the projection and of the weight of
the object, because it struck me under the eye, and this
morning I still have upon my face the only too visible mark
of it, and feel the pain of it. I don't understand how a
woman seated by my side could have the strength to throw
with such force a box which, so to speak, should have come
from quite a distance.

I observe, however, that all the phenomena are produced
on the same side of the curtain; namely, behind it, or
through it, if you wilL I saw leafy branches fall upon the
table, but they came from the side of the said curtain.
Some persons assert that they saw a green twig come in
through the open window which gives upon Cassini Street
But I did not see that.

There was a little round table behind the curtain, very
near me. Eusapia takes my hand and places it, held in
hers, upon the round table. I feel this table shaking, mov-
ing. At a given moment I believe that I perceive two
hands near by and upon mine. I am not deceived ; but this
second hand is that of M. Flammarion, who, on his side, is
holding the hand of the medium. The round tabic bestirs
itself. It leaves the floor, it rises. I have the feeling of
this at once. Then, the curtain having lifted and, as it
were, spread itself over the table, I can distinctly see what
passes behind it. The round table moves; it rises; it falls.
Suddenly tipping partly over, it rises and comes toward
me, upon me. It is no longer vertical, but is caught be-
tween the table and me in a horizontal position. It comes
with suflBcient force to make me recoil, draw in my shoulders,
and try to push back my chair to let this moving piece of
furniture pass. It seems, like a living thing, to struggle
between the table and me. Or, again, it seems like an ani-
mated being struggling against an obstacle, desiring to pass
or move on and not being able to do so, being stopped by the

6ft V

102 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

that we can oomprehend that we must first try natural ex-
planations.

1. It is impossible that it could have been Eusapia. I
was holding one of her hands and was looking at the other
arm, and I placed my cigarette-holder in such a position
that, even with her two arms free, she would not have been
able to accomplish such a marvellous thing.

2. It is not probable that it could have been an accom-
plice; but is it not possible that the unconscious mind of
Eusapia suggested to the imconscious mind of a person near
the curtain to pass a hand behind it and operate there t
Everybody would be acting in good faith and would have
been deceived by the unconscious element This important
point ought to be verified, for no experiment would be
so valuable if it were once demonstrated.

Could not Eusapia's departure be put ofF ? We shall not
have a similar opportunity, and we surely ought to clear up
that phenomenon of the hand.

It is very evident that the table was lifted ; but that is a
material phenomenon which one can readily grant. The
hand which came to seize my cigarette-holder performed an
act of the will implying an intelligence, but the other is
nothing of the kind. Eusapia might lift a table to the height
of three feet without my scientific conception of the world
being changed by it; but to bring in the intervention of a
spirit, that would be to prove the existence of spirits, and you
see the consequences.

As for the hand which seized the cigarette-case, it is ab-
solutely certain that it was not that of Eusapia (you know
that I am very sceptical and that I was looking about me) ;
but close to the curtain, in the salon, there were a good many
people, and several times you heard me ask people to stand
aside from the curtain. If we two had been able to study
Eusapia absolutely alone, in a room to which we had the
key, the problem would soon be solved.

•

I have not been able to make this verification, the sitting
at which Dr. Le Bon was present having been the last which
Eusapia had consented to give at my house. But his objeo-

1£T EXPEBIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 103

tioD 18 of no value. I am absolutely certain that nobody
glided behind the curtain, neither in this particular case nor
in any other. My wife, also, particularly occupied herself
in observing what took place in that^art of the room and
never was able to discover anything suspicious. There is
only one hypothesis; that is, that Eusapia herself handled
the objects. Since Dr. le Bon declares that the thing was
impossible, he himself personally inspecting it, we are com-
pelled to admit the existence of an unknown psydiie force.*

Report of M. Armelin

(Seance of November 21 )

(For this sitting I liad saked three memhen of the Astroaoniieal
Society of France to exercise the aevereet control poesible; namely,
H Antoniadi, mj assistant astronomer at the obeervatorj of Juvisj,
K. Mathieu, agricultural engineer at the same observatorj, and M.
Annelin, secretanr of the Astronomical Society. The last-named gen*
tletnan sent me the following report. There were also present M. and
Mme. Brisson, IC. Baschet, M. Jules Bois, Mme. Fourton, Mme. La
Comtesse de Labadye.)

•

At quarter of ten Eusapia takes her seat, her hack to the
place where the two curtains meet, her hands resting upon
the table. At the invitation of M. Flammarion, M. Mathieu
takes his seat at her right, charged with the duty of keeping
constant watch upon her left hand, and M. Antoniadi is
enjoined to do the same for her right hand. They also make

* During the correction of the proofs of these sheets (Oct., 1006),
I received from Dr. Gustavo Le Bon the following note:

''At the time of her last sojourn in Paris (IOCS), I was able to
obtain from Eusapia three stences at my house. I besought one of the
keenest observers that I know, M. Dastre, — a member of the Academy
of Science and professor of physiology at the Sorbonne, — to be kind
enough to be present at our experiments. There were present also my
assistant, M. Michanx, and the lady to whose kind offices I owe the
presence of Ehisapia.

** Besides the levitation of the table, we several times, and almost
in full liffht, saw a hand appear. At first it was about two inches
and a half above Eusapia's head, then at the side of the curtain which
partly covered her, about twenty inches from her shoulder.

** We then organised, for the second stence, our methods of controL

104 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

themselves sure of her feet. At the right of M. Mathieu
sits Mme. la Comtesse de Labadye; on the left of M. An-
toniadiy Mme. Fourton. Facing Eusapia, between Mmes.
de Labadye and Fourton, MM. Flammarion, Brisson, Bas-
chety and Jules Bois.

The gas chandelier is lighted and the full li^t turned on.
This chandelier is almost over the table. A little lamp with
a shade is placed on the floor behind an easyHshair, near
the opposite side of the room, in the direction of its great-
est lengthy and to the left of the fireplace.

At five minutes of ten the table is lifted from the side
opposite to the medium and falls back with a bang.

At ten o'clock it rises from the side of the medium, who
withdraws her hands, the other persons holding their hands
lifted up. The same effect is produced three times. The
second time, while the table is in the air, M. Antoniadi de-
clares that he is leaning on it with all his weight and is un-
able to lower it. The third time, M. Mathieu leans on it in
the same way and experiences the same resistance. During
this time, Eusapia holds her closed fist about four inches
above the table, looking as if she were strongly grasping
something. The action lasts several seconds. There is no
doubt whatever about this levitation. Wlien the table falls
back, Eusapia experiences something like a relaxation after
a great effort.

At 10.03 the table is lifted clean off its four feet at once,
at first on the side opposite to the medium, rising about eight
inches; then it falls abruptly back. While it is in the air^
Eusapia calls her two neighbors to witness that they are

They were altogether decisive. Thanks to the possibility of producing
behind Eusapia an illumination which she did not suspect, we were
able to see one of her arms, very skilfully withdrawn from our con-
trol, move along horizontally behind the curtain and touch the arm
of M. Dastre, and another time give me a slap on the hand.

** We concluded from our observations that the phenomena observed
had nothing supernatural about them.

" As to the levitation of the table, — an extremely light one, placed
before Eusapia, and which her hands scarcely left, — we have not been
able to formulate any decisive explanation. I will only observe that
Eusapia admitted that it was impossible for her to displace the slight-
est one of the very light objects placed upon that table."

After writing this note, M. Q. Le Bon said to me verbally that,
in his opinion, everything in these experiments is fraud.

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 105

closely holding her hands and her feet, and (hat she is not in
contact with the table.

Then light rape are heard in the table. Euaapia makes
M. Antoniadi lift his hand about eight inches above the
table and tape three times upon his hand with her fingers.
The three taps are heard simultaneously in the table.

To prove that she is not using either her hands or her
feet, she sits down sidewise upon her chair on the left,
stretches out her legs, and puts her feet on the edge of the
chair of M. Antoniadi : she is in full view and her hands are
held. At once the curtain is shaken in the direction of
M. A.

From 10.10 to 10.15, several times in succession, five raps
are heard in the table. Each time the gas is turned down a
little, and each time the table moves without contact.

At 10.20 it balances itself, suspended in the air, and
resting upon the two legs of the longer side. Then it rises
off of its four feet to a height of eight inches.

10.25. The curtain moves, and M. Flammarion says
that there is some one behind it, that somebody is pressing his
hand. He holds his hand out toward the curtain, at a dis-
tance of about four inches. The curtain is pushed out into
something like a pocket made by a hand which is drawing
near. The medium with nervous laugh cries, " Take it,
take it" M. A. feels through the curtain the touch of a
soft body, like a cushion. But the hand of M. F. is not
taken. Objects are heard to move, including the bells of a
tambourine.

All of a sudden the medium, leaving M. Mathieu,
stretches her hand above the table towanl M. Jules Bois, who
takes it. At this moment, behind the curtain, an object falls
to the floor with a great noise.

10.35. Eusapia, again freeing her right hand, lifts it up
above her left shoulder, the fingers forward, at a distance
of several inches from the curtain, and beats four or five
strokes in the air which are heard to sound in the tambourine.
Several persons think they see a will-o'-the-wisp through the
gap between the curtains.

Up to that point the gas has been gradually lowered.
After the lapse of a full moment I find that I can no longer

106 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ready but I can distinguish very clearly the horizontal
lines of my writing. I can see the hour perfectly by my
watchy as well as the faces of those present, (that, of Eusapia
especially) turned toward the light The gas is now com-
pletely extinguished.

At 10.40y the gas being out, I can still read my watch,
but with diflBcidty; I still see the lines of my writing,
though without being able to read.

Eusapia wants somebody to hold her head, which is done.
Then she asks somebody to hold her feet. M. Baschet gets
down on his knees under the table and holds them.

M. Antoniadi cries, ^^ I am touched ! " and says that he has
felt a hand. I have very distinctly seen the curtain puff-
ing out Mme. Flammarion, whom I see silhouetted on
the bright glass of the window, her head leaning forward,
goes behind the curtain in order to assure herself that the
medium is not doing anything suspicious in the way of mo-
tions.

One of the persons present having changed places, Eusapia
utters complaints: *' La catena! la catena!" ("The
chain! the chain I ") The chain is re-established.

At 10.45 the curtain is inflated again. A bump is heard.
The round table touches the elbow of M. Antoniadi. Mme.
Flammarion, who has kept looking behind the curtain, says
that she sees the roimd table turned over. Its feet are in the
air, and it is moving to and fro. She thinks she sees glim-
mers of light near the floor.

M. Mathieu feels a hand and an arm pushing the cur-
tain against him. M. Antoniadi says that he is touched
by a cushion ; his chair is pulled and turns under him as if
on a pivot. He is touched again on the elbow by some ob-
ject.

It is ascertained that M. Jules Bois is holding Eusapia's
right hand above the table ; M. Antoniadi assures us that he
is holding her left hand, and M. Mathieu her feet.

The curtain is again shaken twice; M. Antoniadi is hit
in the back very hard, he says, and a hand pulls his hair.
The only light remaining is the little lamp with a shade, be-
hind an easy-chair at the farther end of the salon. I con-
tinue to write, but my strokes take all kinds of shapes.

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 107

Suddenly, IL Antoniadi exclaims that he is enveloped by
the CQitaiiiy which rests upon his shoulders. Eusapia cries,
** What is ^is that is passing over me ? " The round table
oomee forth beneath the curtain. Mme. Flammarion, who
is standing opposite the window, and has kept looking be-
hind the curtain, says that she sees some very white object
At the same moment M. Flanmiarion, Mme. Fourton, and
M. Jules Bois exclaim that they have just seen a white hand
between the curtains, above Eusapia's head; and, at the
same nunnent, ML Mathieu says that his hair is being pulled.
The hand we saw seemed small, like that of a woman or of
a child.

^' If there is a hand there," says M. Flammarion, ** could
it perhaps grasp an object f M. Jules Bois holds a book
out toward the middle of the right-hand curtain. The book
is taken and held two seconds. Mme. Flanmiarion, whom
I see always silhouetted upon the bright glass of the win-
dow, and who is looking behind the curtain, cries that she
has seen the booh pass through.

M. F. proposes to li^t up and verify. But everybody
agrees in thinking that the curtain may have already changed
its position. A moment afterwards the curtain is again
pnSed out, and M. Antoniadi says that he is hit four or
five times on the shoulder. Eusapia has asked him more
than ten times whether he is quite " seguro" (sure) that
be has hold of her hand and her foot

"Yes, yes," he replies, " seguro, segurissimo" ("sure,
quite sure ").

Mme. Fourton says that for the second time she has seen
a hand stretched out and that this time it touched the
shoulder of M. AntoniadL M. Jules Bois says that for the
second time he has seen a hand stretched out at the end of a
small arm, the fingers moving, the palm forward. (It is
impossible to decide whether these two visions were simul-
taneous or not.)

We are getting accustomed to the almost complete dark-
ness; I can still read " 11.15 '^ by my watcb. M, Antoniadi
says his ear is pinched very hard. M. Mathieu says he is
touched. M. Antoniadi feels his chair pulled: it falls to

108 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the floor. He lifts it again and seats himself on it, and is
again hit very hard on the shoulder.

About 11.20, at the request of Eusapia, M. Flammarion
replaces M. Mathieu. He holds her two feet and one hand ;
M. Antoniadi holds the other hand. The lamp is lowered
still more. The darkness is almost complete. M. Flam-
marion, having remarked that an unknown physical force is
evidently present, but perhaps not an individual personality,
feels his hand seized all of a sudden by some one (or some
thing), and is interrupted. Then, a little after, he com-
plains that his beard is being pulled (on the side opposite
the medium, where I am. I did not perceive anything).

At 11.30 the lamp is turned up. It is comparatively
bright in the room. The curtain, after all these movements,
is seen to be more and more pushed aside, enveloping the
head of Eusapia. Suddenly, above her head, we all see the
tambourine slowly appear and fall upon ihe table with a
noise like that of sheep-bells. It seems to me brighter than
the feeble glimmer of the concealed lamp would justify and
as if accompanied by white phosphorescent gleams ; but they
are perhaps flashes of light from its gilded ornaments,
which, however, ought to appear yellower.

When the lamp is turned down, the noise of moving fur-
niture is heard ; the round table is fetched clear up onto the
top of the large table. It is removed, and the tambourine
executes a dance all alone with a peculiar sound like the
ringing of bells. Mme. Fourton says that she has had her
hand pressed and her fore-arm pinched.

At 11.45 the window curtain is closed in its turn; and,
after a moment, we all see in the direction in which the cleft
in the comer curtain ought to be, above Eusapia's head, a
large white star of the color of Vega, though larger and of a
softer light, and which rests motionless for some seconds,
then is extinguished. Shortly after, a zigzag glimmer of
light, of the same white color, runs over the right-hand cur-
tain, tracing two or three upright lines of several inches in
length, like an N very much elongated.

In spite of the fact that night has fallen, there is still suf-
ficient light entering by the two uncurtained windows, and
proceeding from the vague glimmer of the lamp behind the

ICY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 109

msy-AaxTy to enable each one of us to distinguish his neigh-
bon. Oiur silhouettes are outlined in the lai^ mirror near
OS and above the sofa. The white collars of the men are
dearly seen, their faces a little less clearly. Yet on my left
I see very plainly M. Baschet, on my rif^t Mme. Brisson,
standing and holding her hand up to her face to shield the
eyes. I also distinguish Mme. Flammarion, who has come
and seated herself near her.

M. Flammarion feels an object gliding over his hair. He
begs Mme. de Labadye to take hold of it; and a music-box
falls Qto his handsy whichy before the seance, was placed
upon the ogee, in the comer concealed by the curtain. M.
Brisson has taken the place at the table formerly occupied
hy M. Flammarion, facing Eusapia. A cushion hits him
fuU in the face. As I am approaching the mirror, I see the
reflection of this passing cushion by the comparatively bright
li^t at the far end of the room.

M. Baschet seizes the object and rests his elbow upon it.
It is snatched from him, flies over our heads, bits the mirror,
falls upon the sofa, and rolls upon my foot All this with-
out my being able to perceive any movement on the part of
the medium.

Midnight draws near. The seance is adjourned.

MM. Antoniadi and Mathieu then declare that the control
with which they were charged has not been successful, and
that they are not sure that they have always had hold of the
medium's hands.

Report of M. Antoniadi

{The Same Seance)

I shall give you an exact account of the role I played,
that I may gratify your desire to know the truth.

I restricted myself to ascertaining whether there was a
single phenomenon which could not be explained in the most
simple manner, and I arrived at the conclusion that there
was not. I assure you, on my word of honor, that my watch-
ful, silent attitude convinced me, beyond all manner of

110 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

doubt, that everything is fraudulent, from the beginning to
the end; that there is no doubt that Eusapia shifts her
hands or her feet^ and that the hand or the foot that one is
thought to control is never held tight or very strongly pressed
at the moment of the production of the phenomena. My cer-
tain conclusion is that nothing is produced without the sub-
stitution of hands. I ought to add that, at first, I was very
much astonished when I was hit hard in the back, from be-
hind the curtain, while I was very clearly holding two hands
with, my right hand. Happily, however, at this moment,
Mme. Flammarion having given us a little light, I saw that
I held the right hand of Eusapia and — yours I

The substitution is made by Eusapia with extraordinary
dexterity. In order to ascertain it, I was obliged to con-
centrate my mind upon her very slightest movements with
the severest attention. But it is the first step that costs;
and, once familiarized with her artifices, I predicted with
decision all the phenomena by the sensation of touch alone.

Being a good observer, I am absolutely certain that I
was not deceived. I was neither hypnotized, nor was I at
all frightened during the " bringing in " of objects. And,
as I am not a lunatic, I believe that a certain weight
should be given to my affirmations.

It is true that, during the seance, I was not sincere, dis-
guising the truth of the efficacy of my control. I did that
with the sole purpose of making Eusapia think that I was
a convert to Spiritualism. I did this to avoid scandal. But,
once the sitting was over, the Truth choked me, and I was
most eager to communicate it to my great benefactor and
official superior.

It is not prudent to be too affirmative. It is for that
reason that I have always been reserved in my interpretation
of natural phenomena. Consequently, I am unable to be so
terribly affirmative as to take oath to the absolute charlatan-
ism of the manifestations of Eusapia, before, as Shake-
speare says, I have " rendered assurance doubly sure.'*

I have no personal ambition in the spiritistic line, and all
the careful observations that I made during this seance of
November 21 are only one stone the more contributed to the
edifice of Truth.

ICY EXPEEIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 111

ii is not on account of prejudice that I do not believe in
the reality of the manifestations, and I can assure you, if I
were able to see the least phenomenon that was really extraor-
dinary or inexplicable, I should be the first to confess my
error.

The reading of several books has led me to admit the pos-
sible reality of these manifestations^ but direct experience
has convinced me of the contrary.

My frankness in this report unhappily borders upon indis-
cretion. But frankness is here synonymous with devotion,
for it would be to betray you if 1 were false for an instant
to the sacred cause of Truth.

Report of M. Hathien.

{Seance of November 25)

The seance opens at 9.30. M. Brisson, controller on the
left) puts his feet on Eusapia's feet; M. Flammarion, con-
troller on the right, holds her knees. In a moment the table
leans to the right, its two left feet are lifted and then it falls
back; then follows the lifting of the two right feet, and
finally the lifting of the whole table off of its four feet to a
height of about seven inches above the floor (contact of feet
certain and knees motionless). I take a photograph.

At 9.37 a slight lifting on the left ; then a lifting on the
right, and a total levitation (photograph).

During the levitations of the table the salon is lighted by
a strong Auer burner. It is now extinguished and is re-
placed by a little lamp which is placed behind a fire-screen
^t the farther end of the room. Absolute control of the
bands and of the feet made by MM. Brisson and Flain-
marion.

M. Brisson is slightly touched on the right hip, and at this
moment the two hands of Eusapia are plainly seen.

At 9.48 the curtain shakes and then puflfs out three times
in succession. M. Brisson is again touched on the right
hip ; the curtain is drawn back as if by a curtain-band. il.
Flammarion, who holds Eusapia's hand, makes three gea-

112 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

tures and to each of his gestures corresponds a new diver-
gence of the portiere. Eusapia recommends that we " give
attention to the temperature of the medium ; it will be found
to be changed after each phenomenon."

At 9.67 the light is diminished and is henceforth very
feeble. The curtain bellies out, and at the same moment
M. Brisson is touched ; then the curtain is flung forcefully
over the table. At the request of Eusapia, M. Delanne
lightly touches her head behind, and the curtain slightly
trembles.

Eusapia asks that a window be partly opened, the one in
the middle of the salon, saying that we shall see something
new. M. Flammarion holds with his left hand the knees
of the medium, and with his right hand holds the wrist,
the thumb, and the palm of her right hand before him at the
height of the eyes. M. Brisson holds the left hand. Eu-
sapia seems to call something from the direction of the win-
dow, making gestures, and saying, " I will catch it." Then
a little branch of privet comes and touches M. Flammarion's
hand, apparently arriving from somewhere near the window.
M. F. takes this branch. A moment later two spindle-treo
branches come from behind the curtain at the height of M.
Brisson's head and past the edge of the curtain, which is
pulled up and back. The branches fall on the table.

M. Brisson, all this time at Eusapia's left, is next touched
on the hip, at a moment when the hand of the medium is
at the height of M. Flammarion's beard. Then the chair of
M. Brisson is pulled and pushed about. We hear distinctly,
behind the curtain, sounds from the shaking of the round
table, upon which is the tambourine. Certain vibrations of
the tambourine are produced, corresponding to the move-
ments of the round table. At this moment M. Brisson men-
tions the fact that he has been out of touch with the foot of
the medium for about half a second, but he is then holding
her two thumbs about ten inches apart, and M. Flammarion
has her right hand close to his breast. The right hand of M-
Brisson, holding the left of Eusapia, passes behind the cur-
tain, and M. Brisson says that he has the impression of some-
thing like a dress-skirt puffed out against his ankle.

Thereupon ensues new jolting and bumping of the round

ICY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 118

tiUe and the tambourine, with displacement of the round
table. (Undoubted control by MM. Flammarion and Bria-
son.)

10.30. Chittering noises of the round table in the cabi-
net are heard. M. Flammarion makes gestures with his
handy and synchronistic movements of the table and of the
tambourine take place in the dark cabinet.

10.35. Eusapia asks for a few minutes' rest The sitting
is resumed at 10.43. The violin and the bell are hurled
with force throu^ the cleft in the curtain (M. Brisson gives
assurance that he holds Eusapia's left hand by the thumbs
upon her knees, and M. Flammarion the entire right hand).
At this moment a photograph is taken by flash-light. Cries
and groans from Eusapia, blinded by the light.

The sitting begins again some minutes afterward, and M.
Jules Claretie, sitting at the left of M. Brisson, has his fin-
gers twice touched by a hand. M. Baschet, who is standing
away from the table, holds out a violin to the curtain : the
violin is sei2cd and thrown into the cabinet He holds a
book out to the curtain : this book is seized, but falls to the
floor, before the curtain.

M. Claretie presents a cigarette-holder and feels a hand
which tries to seize it, but he resists and will not let it go.
M. Flammarion asks him to let go of the object: the hand
bears off the prize. A moment after, this object is thrown
from the cleft between the two curtains against Mma de
Basilewska at the other end of the table. It had been both
presented and removed at the middle of the curtain.

At eleven o'clock Eusapia begs for a little more light. M.
Claretie has become controller of the left in place of M.
Brisson. He is touched on the left side. Then the round
table is overturned while advancing toward the main table.
M. Claretie perceives that his chair is moving backwards,
as if pulled back ; then he is hit on the shoulder and experi-
ences a strong pressure under the arm-pit. The curtain sud-
denly approaches M. Claretie, brushes against him, and en-
velops both himself and the medium. M. Claretie is then
pinched in the cheek. M. Flammarion presents to the cur-
tain the hand of Mme. Fourton, and the two hands are
pinched through the curtain.

114 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

The music-box, which is in the dark cabinet, falls on the
table ; Mmes. Oagneur and Flammarion at the same moment
make mention of a hand. M. Baschet presents the music-
box to the curtain ; a hand seizes it through the curtain, he
resists, the hand pushes him away; he presents it again,
the hand seizes it and throws it back, and the box thus
thrown wounds M. Claretie, who is struck beneath the left
eye. The tambourine is thrown forward upon the table
after having remained suspended a moment above the head
of the medium.

At 11.15 a complete levitation of the table for seven or
eight seconds. Absolute control by MM. Flammarion and
Claretie. M. Flammarion has his knee pinched by a hand.
Next the round table is transferred to the knees of M.
Claretie and is forced upon him in spite of all his resist-
ance. Levitations of the table take place in i\x\\ light.
Verification of the feet The feet of one of the controllers
are beneath, those of the other above, and those of the
mediimi between the two.

Report of M. Pallotti

(Seance of November H)

(There are present at this stence, besides the hosts of the evening:
M. and Mme. Brisson, M. and Mme. Pallotti, M. le Bocain, M. Bou-
tigny, Mme. Fourton.)

At the commencement of the sitting several levitations of
the table took place, and, when I asked the spirit who was
present if he could let me see my daughter Rosalie, I ob-
tained an affirmative reply. I then made an agreement with
the said spirit that a series of eight regular raps would indi-
cate to me the moment when my dear daughter would be
present. After some minutes of waiting, the number of
raps agreed on was heard in the table. These raps were
vigorous and made at fixed intervals.

I found, at this time, that I was placed opposite to the
medium, — that is to say, facing her, — at the other end of
the table. When I asked ihe spirit to embrace me and

MY EXPEMMEXTS WITH ECSAPIA 115

me, I immediately felt an icy breath before my face,
bat yet without experiencing the least sensation of contact

When the medium announced the materialization of the
spirit in these words, '' E venuta, e venuta " ('^ She is here,
she ia here "), I distinguished over the middle of the table
a spectral fonui dim and confused, but which, little by little,
grew brighter, and took the shape of the head of a young
girl of the same stature as Rosalie.

When objects, such as the music-box, violin, or the like,
were unexpectedly brou^t before us, I saw very plainly the
shape of a little hand emerging from the curtain that hung
close by me, and which placed these different objects upon
the table.

I ou^t to declare that, during these inexplicable phe-
nomena, the chain was not broken for a single moment: it
would consequently have been materially impossible for one
of us to have made use of his hands.

I will now describe the last phenomena in which I was
for a little while both actor and spectator. These events
closed the seance.

One of the company, M. Boutigny, who was affianced to
my daughter, having left the table to give bis place to one
of the spectators, I saw him approach the curtain of which
I have spoken, which at once gaped open by his side. I as-
certained this fact very precisely.

M. Boutigny then announced to us aloud that he was
being very affectionately caressed. The medium, who was
at this moment in an extraordinary state of agitation, kept
saying, " Amore mio, amore miol " (" My love, my love ! *'),
and, addressing herself to me, called to me several times in
the following words, '' Adesso vieni tu! vieni tu! " (" Come
at once, come I ")

I hastened to take the place which M. Boutigny occupied
near the curtain, and I was scarcely there when I felt my-
self kissed several times. I was able for an instant to
touch the head which was kissing me, which, however, drew
back from the contact of my hands.

I ought to say liat, while these events were taking place,
my ^es were carefully observing the medium as well as the
persons who were by my side. I can therefore, boldly cer-

116 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

tif J that I was not the victim of any illusion or subterfuge^
and that the head which I touched was the head of a real and
unknown person. I felt myself afterwards gently stroked
several times, upon the face and head, the neck and the
breast, by a hand which came out from behind the curtain.
At last I saw the portiere move aside and a little hand, very
moist, very soft, stretched out and placed on my right hand.
Quick as thought, I reached my left hand to this place to
seize it ; but, after having held it closely pressed in mine for
several seconds, it seemed to melt away between my fingers.

Before closing, let me say, by way of additional authenti-
cation, that M. Elammarion had the extreme kindness to have
this seance given for my family and myself, and it therefore
took on a very markedly private character.

The seance having lasted from 9.20 to 11.45 p.m., we sev-
eral times asked the medium if she felt fatigued. Eu-
sapia said no. It was only when the last experiment took
place, when we (myself and my family) had been caressed
and embraced, that the medium, feeling tired, decided to
end the sitting.

My wife is convinced, as I am, that she embraced her
daughter, recognizing her hair and the general appearance of
her person.

Report of M. Le Boealn

(The Same Seance)

The following are some extraordinary phenomena which
I observed during the course of this seance and of which
I believe I can give a report as exact as it is impartial, hav-
ing personally taken the most minute precautions to assure
myself of the perfect fairness of the conditions under which
these different wonders were produced.

I only speak, be it understood, of circiunstances or ac-
tions with which I myself was associated both as actor and
as spectator.

1. At the opening of the sitting and during the time that
the table was engaged in all sorts of noisy pranks, I clearly
felt the pressure of a hand clasping me in a friendly way

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 117

npcm the right shoulder. In order to make the matters clear,
I ought to depose that —

a) I sat at the left of the medium and held her hand;
tha^ forthermorey during the whole sitting her foot was
placed on mine.

b) That, with Eusapia's hand always tightly pressed in
min^ I proved, fay suddenly placing it upon her knees, at
the very moment that the table was rising from beside uSy
that her lower limfae were in a normal position and abso-
lutely motionless.

c) For these different reasons, it seems to me, in fact,
impossible that Eusapia oould have made any use whatever
of these two limbs (which happened to be placed by me) to
execute a movement, even unconscious, that could give rise
to the least suspicion.

2. At a certain point in the proceedings I felt on my
right cheek the sensation of a fondling caress. I felt very
distinctly that it was a real hand which was touching my
skin, and nothing else. The band in question seemed to me
of small size, and the skin was soft and moist.

3. Towards the end of the seance I felt upon my back
a gust of cold air, and at the same time / heard the curtain
behind me slowly open.

Then, when I turned around, very much puzzled, I per-
ceived standing at the lower end of this kind of alcove a
form, — indistinct, it is true, but not so much so that I
could not recc^ize the silhouette of a young girl whose fig-
ure was slightly beneath the average. I ought to say here
that my sister Rosalie was also of short stature. The
head of this apparition was not very distinct It seemed
surrounded by a short of shaded aureole. The whole form
of the statue, if I may so express myself, stood out very
little from the dim obscurity from which it had emerged;
that is to say, it was not very luminous.

4. I addressed myself to the spirit in Arabic, in very
nearly the following terms:

" If it is really thou, Rosalie, who art in the midst of
us, pull the hair on the back of my head three times in suc-
cession.'*

About ten minutes later, and when I had almost com-

118 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

pletely forgotten my request, I felt my hair pulled three
separate times, just as I had desired. I certify this fact,
which, besides, formed for me a most convincing truth of
the presence of a familiar spirit close about us.

Le Bocain, Illustrator,
Eire, Pele-Mele, Chronique Amusante, etc.

1 have restricted myself to presenting here these different
reports,* in spite of certain contradictions, and even because
of them. The reports mutually supplement each other
and form a complete whole, through the entire independ-
ence of each observer.

You see how complex the subject is, and how difficult it
is to form a radical conviction, an absolute scientific judg-
ment Some phenomena are incontestably true: there are
others which are doubtful and which we may attribute to
fraud, conscious or unconscious, and sometimes also to
illusions of the observers. The levitation of the table, for
example, its complete detachment from the floor under tlie
action of an unknown force acting in opposition to the law
of gravity, is a fact which cannot reasonably be contested.

I may remark, in this connection, that the table almost
always rises hesitatingly, after balancings and oscillations,
while, on the contrary, when it falls back it goes straight
down at one swoop, alighting squarely on its four feet.f

* To these eight s^noes I might add a ninth, which took place on the
succeeding December 5, in the study of Prof. Richet. Nothing remark-
able occurred, unless it was the inflation, in full light, of a window
curtain, which was about twenty-four inches from Eusapia's foot, my
foot and leg being between it and her. The observation was absolutely
accurate.

tTo what cause may we attribute the levitation of the table T We
have undoubtedly not yet discovered the secret. The action of gravity
may be counterbalanced bv movement.

You can amuse yourself, while at breakfast or dinner, by toying
with a knife. If you hold it vertically in your tightly closed hand,
its weight is counterbalanced by the pressure of the hand and it does
not fall. Open your hand, still holding the knife grasped by the
thumb and index finger, and it will slide as if it were in a too large

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 119

On the other hand, since the medium confltantly seeks to

release one hand (generally her left hand) from the control

designed to hinder her from doing so, a certain number of the

toadies felt and of the displacements of objects may be due

to a substitution of hands. This behavior of hers will be

the subject of a special examination in the following chapter.

But it would be impossible by the whole force of the hand

to produce the violent movement of the curtain, which seems

to be inflated by a tempestuous wind, and projected to the

very centre of the table, forming a great hood around the

heads of the sitters. To fling out the curtain with such

force, it would be necessary for the medium to rise and push

on it as hard as she could with her extended arms — not

once merely, but again and again. But how can she do this

when she is all the while seated tranquilly in her chair ?

These experiments place us in a special environment or
atmosphere, on the different physical and psychical charac-
ters of which it is difBcult to form an opinion.

At the time of the last seance, during which M. and Mme.
Pallotti are sure of having seen, touched, and embraced their
daughter, I saw nothing, at that moment, of this spectral
form, although it was only a few yards from me, and al-
though I had perceived, some moments before, the head of a
young girL It is true that, out of respect for their emotion,
I did not approach their group. But I kept careful watch,
and I perceived no one but the living.

tube. But move the hand by a rapid see-saw movement, from left to
right, from right to left: you will thus create a centrifugal force
which holds the object in vertical suspension, and which may even toss
it above your hand and project it into the air, if the moitement is
rapid enough.

What, then, sustains the knife, annihilates its weight T Force.
Might it not be that the influence of the experimenters seated around
the table puts in special movement the molecules of the wood? They
are already set in vibration by variations of temperature. These mole-
cules are particles infinitely small which do not touch ench other.
Might not a molecular movement counterbalance the effect of gravity?
I do not present this as an explanation, but as an illustrative suggestion
{com me une image).

120 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

At the seance of November 10 the noise of a sonorous
object notified us of a displacement, a movement. We seem
to hear the violin strings lightly touched. It is, in fact, the
little violin on the round table, which is lifted to a height
somewhat above that of the head of the medium, passes into
the opening between the two curtains, and appears before us
with the neck forward. The idea comes into my head to
grasp this instrument during its slow passage through the

air; but I hesitate, because I wish to see what will become
of it. It comes as far as the middle of the table, descends,
then falls, partly upon the table, partly upon the left hand
of M. Brisson and the right hand of Mme. Fourton.

That was one of the most accurate observations that I
made at this seance. I did not let go of Eusapia's right
hand for a single instant, and M. Brisson did not for a mo-
ment let go of her left hand.

But in the face of phenomena so incomprehensible we
always revert to scepticism. In the seance of November 19
we had thoroughly resolved this time not to leave any
loophole for doubt as to the hands, to hinder every attempt
at substitution, and to have the most complete control of each
hand, without having our attention withdrawn from this
object for a single moment. Eusapia has only two hands.
She belongs to the same zoological species that we do, and is
neither trimanous nor quadrumanous.

It was enough, then, that there were two of us ; that each
one took a hand of the medium and kept hold of it between
the thumb and the forefinger, that no possible doubt might
arise, drew in the elbows, and held the said hand as far
removed as possible from the axis of the medium's body and
pressed against our own person, so as to remove the objection
about the substitution of hands.

That was the essential object of this seance, as far as
concerned M. Brisson and me. He had charge of the left

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 121

hind. I had chaTge of the ri^t. I need not add that I am
as suie of the loyalty of M. Brisson as he is sure of mine,
and that, forewarned as wc were, and holding this seance
for the express purpose of this control, we could neither of
us be the dupes of any attempt at fraud, so far as regards
that occasion, at least

The famous medium, Ilomc, had several times spoken to
me of a curious experiment that he and Crookes made with
an accordion held in one of his hands and playing all by
itself, without the lower end being held by another hand*
Crookes has represented this experiment by a sketch in his
memoir upon this subject. The medium is seen holding the
accordion with one hand in a kind of open-work cage, and
the accordion is playing by itself. I shall give the details of
this matter farther on.

I tried the experiment in another way, by holding the
accordion myself, and not letting it be touched by the me-
diimi. The feats which wc had just witnessed, and which
were performed while Eusapia had her hands securely held,
gave me the hope of succeeding, so much the more because
we believed that wc had seen fluid hands in action.

I, therefore, take a little new accordion, bought that even-
ing in a bazaar, and, approaching the tabic and remaining in
a standing position, I hold the accordion by one side, resting
two fingers upon two keys, in such a way as to permit the
air to pass in case the instrument should begin to play.

So held, it is vertically suspended by the stretching out
of my right hand to the height of my head, and above
the head of the medium. We make sure that her hands
are all the time tightly held and that the chain is un-
broken. After a short wait of five or six seconds I feel
the accordion drawn by its free end, and the bellows is im-
mediately pushed in several times successively; and at the
same time the music is heard. There is not the least doubt

122 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

that a handy a pair of pincers, or what-not, has hold of the
lower end of the instrument. I perceive very well the re-
sistance of this prehensible organ. All possibility of fraud
is eliminated; for the instrument is well above Eusapia's
head, her hands are firmly held, and I distinctly see the
distention of the curtain as far as the instrument The ac-
cordion continues to make itself heard, and is pulled on
so strongly that I say to the invisible power, " WeU, since
you have such a good hold on it, keep it 1 '' I withdraw my
hand, and the instrument remains as if glued to the cur-
tain. It is no longer heard. What has become of it? I
propose to light a candle to hunt for it But the general
opinion is that, since things are going so well, it is better to
make no changes in the environment While we are talk-
ing, the accordion begins to play, — a slight and rather in-
significant air. In order to do that, it must be held by two
hands. At the end of fifteen or twenty seconds it is brought
to the middle of the table (playing all the while). The
certainty that hands are playing it is so complete that I say
to the Unknown, "Since you hold the accordion so well, you
can doubtless take my hand itself." I reach out my arm
at the height of my head, rather a little higher. The cur-
tain inflates, and through the curtain I feel a hand (a
pretty strong left hand) ; that is to say, three fingers and the
thumb, and these grasp the end of my right hand.

Let us suppose for an instant that the accordion could
have been pulled by one of Eusapia's hands, which she had
released, lifted up, and screened behind the curtain. It is
a very natural hypothesis. Let us say that the two con-
trollers on the right and on the left respectively were cheated
by the dexterity of the medium. That is not impossible.
But, then, that the instrument might play, our heroine would
have had to release her two hands and leave the two con-

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 123

trollere at loggerhetds with their own hands. It is some-
thing not to be thonj^t of.

ApropoB of the existence of a third hand, a fluid hand,
created on the spur of the moment, with muscles and bones
(an hypothesis so bold that one hardly dares to express it),
I relate here what we observed during the sitting of No-
vember 19.

M. Guillaume de Fontenay, with whom the experiments
at Montfort-FAmaury were made, in 1897, at the home of
the Blech family, had come on purpose from the centre of
France, with a great profusion of apparatus and of new
processes, to try to get some photographs. The medium ap-
peared to be enchanted with them, and toward the middle of
the soiree said to us, '^ You are going to have, this evening,
something that you did not expect, something which has
never been accomplished by any other medium, and which
can be photographed as an unimpeachable record." She
then explains to us that I am to lift my hand up, while
firmly holding hers by the wrist; that M. Sardou, while
holding her left hand, will keep watch over it above the
table, and that then her third hand will appear in the photo-
graph, her fluidic hand, holding the violin near her head,
at some distance from her right hand, behind her, and
against the curtain.

We wait pretty long before anything happens. At length,
the medium trembles, sighs, recommends that we breathe
deeply and thus aid her, and we feel, rather than see, the
moving of the violin through the air, with a slight vibrating
noise of the strings. Eusapia cries, '^ It is time, take the
photograph, quick, don't wait, fire I " But the apparatus
does not work: the magnesium won't kindle. The medium
grows impatient, still holds out, but cries that she cannot
hold out much longer. We all vehemently clamor for the
photograph. Nothing moves. In the darkness, which is

124 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

needed in order that the plate in the camera shall not have to
be veiled^ M. de Fontenay does not succeed in lighting the
magnesinm, and the violin is heard to fall to the floor.

The medium seems exhausted^ groans, laments, and we
all regret this check to the proceedings; but Eusapia de-
clares that she can begin again, and asks us to get ready. In
fact, at the end of five or six minutes the same phenomena
are produced. M. de Fontenay explodes a chlorate of potas-
sium pistol. The light is instantaneous, but feeble. It
enables us to see Eusapia's left hand being held upon the
table by M. Sardou's right hand, her right hand held in the
air by my left hand, and at a distance of about twelve
inches in the rear, at the height of one's head, the violin,
resting vertically against the curtain* But the photograph
gives no picture.

Eusapia now asks for a little light {" poco di luce'^).
The small hand-lamp is lighted again, and the illumination
is sufficient for us to see each other distinctly, including
the arms, the head of the medium, the curtain, etc The
chain is formed again. The curtain flares widely out, and
M. Sardou is several times touched by a hand which gives
him a good whack on the shoulder, making him bend his
head forward toward the table. In the presence of this
manifestation and of these sensations we have again the
impression that there has been a hand there, a hand dif-
ferent from those of the mediimi (which we continue
carefully to hold), — and from ours, because we are holding
each other's hands in the chain. Moreover, there is no one
near the curtain, which is plainly visible, I thereupon re-
mark, " Since there is a hand there, let it take from me this
violin, as it did day before yesterday." I take the violin by
the handle and hold it out to the curtain. It is at once
taken and lifted, then falls to the floor. I do not for a mo-
ment let go the hand of the medium. Yet I grasp this hand

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 125

with my ri^t hand, for a moment, in order to pick up with
mj left the violin that has fallen near me. As I stoop
down to the floor, I feel an icy breath upon my hand, but
nothing more. I take the violin and put it on the table;
then I take again with my left hand the hand of the medium,
and, seizing the violin with my ri^t, I hold it out again
to the curtain. But Mmc. Brisson, peculiarly incredulous,
asks me to let her take it herself. She does so, holds it out
to the curtain, and the instrument is snatched from her, in
spite of all the efforts that she makes to retain it. Every-
body declares they saw very distinctly this time.

The hands of the nledium have not been let go a single
minute.

It seems as if diis experiment, made under these condi-
tions, in sufficient light, ought to leave no doubt about the
existence of a third hand of the mediimi which acts in obedi-
ence to her wilL And yet ! —

During this same soiree of November 19 I ask that the
violin, which has fallen to the floor, bo brought again upon
the table. We keep holding carefully the mcdiimi's hands,
M. Sardou her left hand and I her right. Eusapia, wish-
ing to give still more security, more certainty, proposes that
I take her two hands, the right as I am holding it, and ^hcr
left wrist in my right hand, her left hand always being held
by M. Sardou, — the whole show of hands taking place on the
table. A noise is heard. The violin is brou^t on, passes
above our hands, thus criss-crossed, and is laid down, farther
on, in the middle of the table. A candle is lighted, and the
position of our hands is ascertained. They have not moved.
Some time after this phenomena, in the dim light, we all
saw will-o'-the-wisps shining in the cabinet. They were
visible through the cleft in the curtains, which at that time
was rather wide. For my part, I saw three of them, the
first very brilliant, the others less intense. They were not

126 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

tremulous, nor did they stir in the least, and remained in
view scarcely more than a second.

M. Antoniadi having remarked that he is not always sure
of holding her left hand, Eusapia says to me in a flush of
passion, " Since he is not sure, take my two hands your-
self again." I already hold the right, and am absolutely
certain of it I thereupon take her left wrist in my right
hand, M. A. declaring that he will take care of the fingers.
In this position, Eusapia's two hands being thus held above
the table, a cushion, which is at my right upon the table,
having been forcibly thrown there some moments before, is
seized and thrown over the sofa, brushing my forehead on
the left. Those who sit at the table and form the chain af-
firm that the hands of the chain have not lost touch with each
other.

Here is another circumstance recorded in the notes of
Mme. Flammarion:

We were almost in complete darkness, — the lamp, re-
moved as far as possible from Eusapia, having only the
dim glow of a night-lamp. Eusapia was seated at the ex-
periment table, — between MM. Brisson and Pallotti, who
were holding her two hands, — and almost facing this lamp.

Mme. Brisson and I were seated some yards distant from
Eusapia, one of us on the side and the other in the middle
of the salon, Eusapia facing us, while we had our backs
turned to the light. This allowed us to distinguish well
enough everything that passed before us.

Up to the moment when the event that I am going to re-
late took place, Mme. Brisson had remained almost as in-
credulous as I, apropos of the phenomena, and she had just
been expressing to me in a low tone her regret at not having
vet seen anything herself, when, all of a sudden, the curtain
behind Eusapia began to shake and move gracefully back, as
if lifted by an invisible curtain band, — and what do I see ?
The little table on three feet, and leaping (apparently in
high spirits) over the floor, at the height of about eight

ICY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 127

indieBy ^wliile the gilded tambourine is in its turn leaping
gajly at the same height above the table, and noisily tinkling
its bdla.

Stupefied with wonder, quick as I can I pull Mme. Bris-
son to my side, and, pointing with my finger at what is
taking place, '' Look! " said I.

And then the table and the tambourine begin their carpet-
dance again in perfect unison, one of them falling for-
cibly upon the floor and the other upon the table. Mme.
Brisson and I could not help bursting out into laughter ; for,
indeed, it was too funny! A sylph could not have been
more amusing.

Eusapia had not turned around. She was seen seated;
and her hands, placed before her, were held by the two con-
trollers. Even if she had been able to free both her hands,
she would not have been able to take hold of the round
table and tambourine, except by turning around; and the
two ladies saw them leaping about all alone.

I observe to Eusapia that she must be very tired, that the
Beance has lasted over two hours and has yielded extraor-
dinary results, and that it is perhaps time to end it She
replies that she desires to continue still a little longer, and
that there will be new phenomena. We accept with pleas-
ure, and sit down and wait

Then she lays her head on my shoulder, takes my entire
ri^t arm, including the hand, and putting my leg between
hers, and my feet between her feet, she held me very tight
Then she begins to rub the carpet, drawing my feet along
with hers, and squeezing me tighter than before. Then she
cries, '' Spetta! spetta!" (" Look! look! ") ; then, " Vieni!
vieni!'* ("Come! come!*') She invites M. Pallotti to
take a place behind his wife and see what will happen. I
must add that both of them had been earnestly asking, for
some minutes, if they might see and embrace their daughter,
as they had done at Rome.

128 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

After a new nervous efFort on the part of Eusapia, and
a kind of convulsion accompanied by groans, complaints, and
cries, there was a great movement of the curtain. Several
times I see the head of a young girl bowing before me, with
high-arched forehead and with long hair.

She bows three times, and shows her dark profile against
the window. A moment after we hear sounds from M. and
Mme. Pallotti. They are covering with kisses the face of
a being invisible to us, saying to her with passionate af-
fection, "Rosa, Rosa, my dear, my Rosalie," etc. They
say they felt between their hands the face and the hair of
their daughter.

My impression was that there was really there a fluidic
being. I did not touch it. The grief of the parents, revived
and consoled at the same time, seemed to me so worthy of
respect that I did not approach them. But, as to the iden-
tity of the spectral being, I believed it to be a sentimental
illusion of theirs.

I come now to the strangest circumstances of all, the most
incomprehensible, the most incredible, of any that we expe-
rienced in our seances.

On November 21 M. Jules Bois presents a book before the
curtain at about the height of a man standing upright. The
salon is dimly lighted by a little lamp with a shade, set
pretty well to one side. Yet objects are seen with distinct-
ness.

An invisible hand behind the curtain seizes the book.
Then all the observers see it disappear as if it had passed
through the curtain. It is not seen to fall before the curtain.
It is an octavo, rather slender, bound in red, which I have
just taken from my library.

Now Mme. Flammarion, almost as sceptical as M. Bas-
chet about these phenomena, had glided past the window to
the rear of the curtain, in order to observe carefully what

MY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 129

was pMBing. She hoped to detect a movement of the
mediiixn's arm, and to unmask her, in spite of the courtesy
she owed her as her hostess. She saw very plainly £u-
sapia's head, motionless before the mirror which reflected the

light.

Suddenly the book appears to her, it having passed
throu^ the curtain, — upheld in the air, without hands or
arms, for a space of one or two seconds. Then she sees it
fall down. She cries, '^ Oh I the book : it has just passed
through the curtain I " and, pale and stupefied with wonder,
she abruptly retires among the observers.

The entire hither side of the curtain was plainly visible,
because the left portion of the left-hand curtain had been
loosened from its rod by the weight of a person who had sat
down on the sofa where the lower part of the curtain had
been accidentally placed; and because a large opening had
been made fronting the mirror which filled the entire wall
of the farther end of the salon, — a mirror that reflected the
li^t of the little lamp.

If such an event had really taken place, we should be
forced to admit that the book went through the curtain with-
out any opening, for the tissue of the fabric is wholly in-
tact; and we cannot suppose for a single moment that it
passed through at the side, the book having been held out
about the middle, — that is to say, about twenty-four inches
from each side of the curtain, the breadth of which is four
feet

Nevertheless, this book was seen by !Mme. Flammarion,
who was looking behind the curtain; and it disappeared
from the eyes of the persons who were in front, notably M.
Baschet, M. Brisson, M. J. Bois, Mme. Fourton and myself.
We were not expecting this miracle in any way; we were
stupefied by it ; we asked what had become of the book, and
it seemed as if it had fallen behind the curtain.

130 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Collective hallucination ? But we were all in cool blood,
entirely self-possessed.

If Eusapia had been able to adroitly slip her hand aroiind
and seize the book through the portiere, the bare outline of
the book would not have been seen, but a protuberance of
the portiere.

How great a value the sight of this thing passing through
a portiere would have as a scientific datum, if one were only
sure of the absolute honesty of the medium, — if, indeed,
this medium were a man of science, a physicist, a chemist,
an astronomer, whose scientific integrity would be above sus-
picion! The mere fact of the possibility of fraud takes
away ninety-nine one-hundredths of the worth of the obser-
vation, and makes it necessary for us to see it a hundred
times before being sure. The conditions of certainty ought
to be understood by all investigators, and it is curious to
hear intelligent persons express surprise at our doubts, and
at the strict scientific obligation we are under to lay down
these conditions. In order to be sure of abnormalities like
these levitations, for example, we must make sure of them
a himdred times over; not see them once, but a hundred
times.

It seems to us impossible that matter could pass through
matter. You place for example a stone upon a napkin. If
one should tell you that he has found it under the napkin,
without any break in the continuity of the tissue, you would
not believe him. However, I take a piece of ice, weighing
say two pounds, and place it upon a napkin; I place both
upon a strainer in the oven; the piece of ice melts, passes
through the napkin, and falls drop by drop into a basin. I
put the whole thing into a freezing machine, the melted
water congeals again ; the piece of ice weighing two pounds
has passed through the napkin.

It is very simple, you think. Yes, it is simple because

MT EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 181

we nnderaUnd it But, of ooursey this is not the same case
MB that of the booL Yet, after all^ it is matter passing
throng matter, after a transformation of its physical condi-
tioii*

We mi^^t seek ezpknations, invoke the hypotheses of the
fourth dimension, or discuss the non-Euclidian geometry.
It seems to me more simple, however, to think that, on the
one hand, these experiments are not yet suflScient for us to
make an absolute affirmation, and that, on the other hand,
our ignorance of everything is formidable and forbids us
to deny anything.

The phenomena of which I am speaking are so extraor^
dinary that one is led to doubt them, even when one feels
assured that he has seen them. Thus, for example, I no-
ticed that M. Ren6 Baschet — my learned friend, present
editor of Illustration — affirmed before us all, during the
seance and afterward, that be saw with his own eyes, under
the table, a head like that of a young girl of about twelve
years of age, together with the bust. This head sank down
vertically while he was looking at it and disappeared. He
made the affirmation on the 2l8t, repeated it on the 22d at a
theatre where we met, and on the 25th again at his home.
Some time after, M. Baschet was convinced that he had been
deceived, that he had been the dupe of an illusion. That
is also possible. I was looking at the same time, as well as
other persons, and we did not see anything.

It is then very human, when we are thinking, some days
later, of these curious things, for us to suspect ourselves.

But there are prejudices less explicable. Thus, for ex-
ample, at the seance of November 28 a distinguished engi-
neer, M. L., absolutely refused to admit the levitation of
the table, in spite of the evidence. Of this my readers may
judge for themselves. Here is a note which I extract from
my reports:

132 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

M. L. tells me that the mediiim lifts the table with her
feet, while resting her hands upon it I ask Eusapia to draw
back her feet under her chair. The table is lifted.

After this second levitation^ M. L. declares that he is not
satisfied (although neither of the feet of the medium is un-
der a foot of the table), and that we must begin the experi-
ment again, without having her legs touched at any point.
The medium then proposes that her legs be fastened to those
of M. L. A third levitation takes place, after the left 1^
(the incriminated one) of the medium has been bound to
the left leg of M. L.

This gentleman then declares that the hypotheses he has
made, in order to explain the phenomenon, are null and
void, but that there must be, all the same, a trick in the
thing, because he does not believe in the supematuraL

Neither do I believe in the supernatural. And yet there
is no trick.

This manner of reasoning, rather common, does not seem
to me scientific. It is to claim that we know the limits of
the possible and of the impossible.

People who deny that the earth moves reason in just this
way. That which is contrary to common sense is not im-
possible. Common sense is the average state of popular
knowledge; that is to say, of general ignorance.

A man acquainted with tho history of the sciences, and
who reasons calmly, cannot succeed in understanding
the ostracism to which certain sceptics subject unexplained
phenomena. " It is impossible," they think. This fa-
mous common sense on which they plume themselves
is nothing after all, let me say, but common opinion, which
accepts habitual facts without comprehending them, and
which varies from time to time. What man of good sense
would formerly have admitted that we should one day be
able to photograph the skeleton of a living being, or store
up the voice in a phonograph, or determine the chemical
composition of an inaccessible star? What was science a

ICY EXPERIMENTS WITH EUSAPIA 183

hmdrad years ago, two hundred years, three hundred I
Look at astronomy five hundred years ago, and physiology,
and mediciiie^ and natural philosophy, and chemistry. In
five hundred years, in a thousand years, in two thousand
yean^ what iriHl these acicnccs of ours be I And in a hun-
dred thousand years t Yes, in a hundred thousand years,
what win human intelligence be I Our actual condition will
be to that what the knowledge of a dog is to that of a cul-
tivated man ; that is to say, there is no possible comparison.

We smile to-day at the science of learned men of the
time of Copernicus or Christopher Columbus or Ambroise
Par€^ and we forget that, in a few centuries, savants will
estimate ns in the same fashion* There are properties of
matter which are completely hidden from us, and humanity
is endowed with faculties still unkno^vn to us. We only
advance very slowly in the knowledge of things.

The critics do not always give proof that they possess a
very compact logical power. You speak to them of facts
proved by centuries of testimony. They challenge the value
of popular testimony, and declare that these uncultivated
folks, these petty merchants, these manufacturers, these la-
borers, these peasants, are incapable of observing with any
exactitude.

Some days after, you cite the savants, men whose compe-
tence has been proved in the objective sciences of observa-
tion, which attest these very facts, and you hear the sneerers
answer that those savants are competent witnesses in their
special lines of study and work, but in nothing apart from
these.

So, after this fashion, all testimony is refused. They
declare that the thing, being impossible, cannot have been
observed at all.

Of course there is room for a good deal of analysis in
discussing the claims of human testimony. But^ if we sup-

134 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

press every piece of testimony, what will there be left? —
our native ignorance.

Buty to tell the truth, there are some of these negative
gentry who are sure of everything, and who impose their
aphorisms upon us with the authority of a czar giving out
his ukase or edict.

From these different experiments with Eusapia Paladino,
including those described in the first and second chapters,
the impression is left that the phenomena observed are, to a
great extent, real and undeniable; that a certain number
may be produced by fraud ; but that, in fact, the subject is
very complex. Again, certain movements simply belong to
the material order, while others belong at once to the
physical order and the psychical order. All this study is
vastly more complicated than people in general have any
idea of. I am going to pass summarily in review other
experiments made by the same mediimi, and shall after-
wards devote a special chapter to the examination of frauds
and mystifications.

Let us look, first, at other achievements of Eusapia, and
select from them whatever they also have to impart in the
way of instruction or caution.

CHAPTER IV

OTHEB siASOEB WITU KU8APIA PAULDINO

The medium, whose marvellous stance performanoee we
have heen describing has been the subject of a long series
of observations by eminent and careful experimenters. Her
endowments are indeed exceptional. When you study with
Eusapia, the comparison of her powers with those of ordi-
nary cases makes you think of the difference between a fine
electrical machine operated under good atmospheric condi-
tions and a bad one operated on a rainy day. You see more
with her in one hour than in a host of faulty trials with
other mediums.

Our study of these unknown forces will progress rapidly
if, in place of limiting the results obtained to one or two
groups, such as those which precede, we examine the totality
of the observations made in the seances of this medium.
My readers can then compare them with the preceding ones ;
they can judge, they can make their own estimates.

The documents which I am now going to print are all
borrowed from tlie Anndles des sciences psychiques and from
the valuable collection of M. Albert de Rochas upon The Ex-
temalization of Motivity.

A few words, first, about the d^uts of Eusapia in her me-
dinmistic career.

Professor Chiaia, of Naples, to whom I owe it that I
was able to receive Eusapia at my house and obtain the ex-
periments reported above, was the first to bring her gifts into
public notice. He first published on the 9th of August,

135

186 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

1888, in a journal issued at Rome, the following letter
addressed to Professor Lombroso:

Dear Sir, — In your article, Tlie Influence of Civilization
upon Oenius (which has incontestable beauties of style and
of logic), I noticed a very happy paragraph. It seems to me
to sum up the scientific movement (starting from the time
when man first invented that head-breaking thing called an
alphabet) down to our own day. This paragraph reads as
follows :

" Every generation is prematurely ready for discoveries
which it never sees bom, since it does not perceive its own
incapacity and the means it lacks for making further dis-
coveries. The repetition of any one manifestation, by im-
pressing itself upon our brains, prepares our minds and
renders them less and less incapable of discovering the laws
to which this manifestation is amenable. Twenty or thirty
years are enough to make the whole world admire a dis-
covery which was treated as madness at the moment when it
was made. Even at the present day academic bodies laugh
at hypnotism and at homoeopathy. Who knows whether my
friends and I, who laugh at Spiritualism, are not in error,
just as hypnotized persons are? Thanks to the illusion
which surrounds us, we may be incapable of seeing that we
deceive ourselves; and, like many persons of unsound mind
who stubbornly oppose the truth, we laugh at those who are
not of our way of thinking."

Struck by this keen thought, which by chance I find
adapted to a certain matter wiUi which I have been occu-
pied for some time, I joyfully accept it, without abatement,
without any comment which might change its sense; and,
confining myself to the fine old rules of chivalry, I make use
of it as a challenge. The consequences of this challenge
will neither be dangerous nor bloody : we shall fight fairly ;
and, whatever may be the results of the encounter, whether
I succumb or whether I make my opponent yield, it will
always be in a friendly way. The result will tend to the
improvement of one of the two adversaries and will be in
every way useful to the great cause of truth.

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 137

There is much talk nowadays of a special malady which
is found in the human organism. We notice it every day;
but we are ignorant of its eauf^o and know not what to call
it The cry is raised that it be subjected to the examina-
tion of contemporary science; but science, in reply, only
meets the request with the mocking ironical smile of a
Pyirhus, for the precise reason (as you say) that the time
is not yet ripe.

But the author of the paragraph I have quoted above, of
course did not write it merely for the pleasure of writing.
It seems to me, on the contrary, that he would not smile dis-
dainfully if he were invited to obsen^e a special case that
is worthy to attract the attention and to seriously occupy
the mind of a Lombroso. The case I allude to is that of an
invalid woman who belongs to the humblest class of society.
She is nearly thirty years old and very ignorant ; her look is
neither fascinating nor endowed with the power which mod-
em criminologists call irresistible; but, when she wishes, be
it by day or by night, she can divert a curious group for an
hour or so with the most surprising phenomena. Either
bound to a seat or firmly held by the hands of the curious, she
attracts to her the articles of furniture which surround her,
lifts them up, holds them suspended in air like Mahomet's
cof&n, and makes them come down ^^in with undulatory
movements, as if they were obeying her will. She increases
their weight or lessens it according to her pleasure. She raps
or taps upon the walls, the ceiling, the floor, with fine rhythm
and cadence. In response to the requests of the spectators,
something like flashes of electricity shoot forth from her
bo<ly, and envelop her or enwrap the spectators of these mar-
vellous scenes. She draws upon cards that you hold out
everything that you want — figures, signatures, numbers,
sentences — by just stretching out her hand toward the indi-
cated place. If you place in the corner of the room a vessel
containing a layer of soft clay, you find after some moments
the imprint in it of a small or a large hand^ the image of
a face (front view or profile), from which a plaster cast can
be taken. In this way, portraits of a face taken at differ-

138 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ent angles have been preserved, and those who desire so to do
can thus make serious and important studies.*

This woman rises in the air, no matter what bands tie
her down. She seems to lie upon the empty air as on a
couch, contrary to all the laws of gravity ; elie plays on mu-
sical instruments — organs, bells, tambourines — as if they
had been touched by her hands or moved by the breath of
invisible gnomes.

You will call that a particular case of hypnotism; you
will say that this sick woman is a fakir in petticoats, tiiat
you would shut her up in a hospital. Let me beg of you, most
eminent professor, not to shift the argument. As is well
known, hypnotism only causes a momentary illusion; after
the seance, everything takes its original form. But here
the case is different. During the days which followed these
marvellous scenes there remained traces and records worthy
of consideration.

What do you think of that?

But allow me to continue. This woman, at times, can in-
crease her stature by more than four inches. She is like
an india-rubber doll, like an automaton of a new kind; she
takes strange forms. How many legs and arms has she ?
We do not know. While her limlDs are being held by incred-
ulous spectators, we see other limbs coming into view, with-
out knowing where they come from. Her shoes are too small
to fit these witch-feet of her, and this particular circum-
stance gives rise to the suspicion of the intervention of
mysterious power.

Don't laugh when I say "gives rise to the suspicion/*
I affirm nothing ; you will have time to laugh presently.

^Vhen this woman is bound, a third arm is seen to appear,
and nobody knows where it comes from. Then follows a
long series of droll teasing tricks. She abstracts bonnets,
watches, money, rings, pins, and produces them again with
great adroitness and gayety; she takes coats and waistcoats,
pulls off boots, brushes hats and puts them back upon the
heads of those to whom they belong, curls and strokes mus-
taches, and occasionally hits you with a fist, for she also has

* M. Chiaia has sent me photographs of these prints. I reproduce
some of them here (PL VII).

OTHEB STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 189

fits of ill-temper. I said a fisti because it is always a clumsy
and callous hand that strikes the blow. It has been noticed
that the hand of the sorceress is smalL She has large finger-
nails; has a moist skin, the temperature of which varies
from the natural warmth of the body to the icy chill of a
corpse the touch of which makes you shiver; she allows
herself to be handled, pinched, observed ; and ends by rising
into the air, remaining suspended there with no visible
means of support, like one of those plump wooden hands
hung out over the sidewalk as a sign at the shops of the
glove merchants.

I swear to you that I emerge with a very calm spirit from
the cave of this Circe. Freed from her enchantments, I
pass all my impressions in review, and end in scepticism,
althou^ the testimony of my senses assures me that I have
not been the sport of an error or of an illusion.

All these extraordinary manojuvres cannot be attributed to
prestidigitation. We ought to be on our guard against
even- kind of trickery, and make a scrupulous investigation
in order to forestall mendacity or fraud.

But the test sometimes faila ; the facts do not always meet
tbe demands of the eager and restless spectators. This is
one more mystery to explain, and proves that the individual
lierself who works these wonders is not their sole arbiter.
Undoubtedly, she possesses the exclusive power of produc-
ing these portentous feats; but they cannot materialize
except with the co-operation of an unknown agent, some
deus ex machina.

From all this two things result; namely, the great diflS-
culty there is in examining the true inwardness of this stupe-
fying piece of charlatanry, and the necessity of making a
series of experiments in order to get together enough of
them to illuminate the dark intellects of the dupes and to
overcome the obstinacy of the wranglers.

Now you see my challenge. If you have not written the
paragraph cited above simply for the pleasure of writing
it; if you have the true love of science; if you are without
prejudices, — you, the first alienist in Italy, — please have
the kindness to take the field, aiul persua^le yourself that you
are going to measure swords with a worthy aJver&ary,

140 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

When you can take a week's vacation, leave your beloved
studies, and, instead of going into the country, show me a
place where we can meet. Choose the time yourself.

You are to have a room into which you will enter alone
before the experiment; there you will arrange the furniture
and other objects just as you wish; you will lock the door
with a key. I believe it would be useless to present the lady
to you in the costume worn in the Garden of Eden, because
this new Eve is incapable of retaliating upon the serpent
and of seducing you.

Four gentlemen will be our seconds, as is fitting in all
knightly encounters; you will choose two, and I will bring
the other two.

No easier conditions were ever drawn up by the Knights
of the Round Table. It is evident that, if the experiment
does not succeed, 1 bhall be able to accuse only the harsh
decrees of destiny ; you will consider me but as a man suffer-
ing from hallucination, who longs to be cured of his extrava-
gances. But, if success crowns our efforts, your loyalty will
impose upon you the duty of writing an article, in which,
without circumlocution, reticence, or error, you will attest
the reality of the mysterious phenomena and promise to in-
vestigate their causes.

If you decline this meeting, please explain to me your
sentence, '* The time is not yet i ipo." Undoubtedly, that
might apply to commou intellects, but not to a Lombroso, to
whom is addressed this advice* of Dante : " Honor ought to
close the lips of falsehood with truth."

Yours very devotedly and respectfully,

(Pkofessor) Ciiiaia.

M. Lombroso did not at once accept this eloquent and
witty challenge. However, we shall presently find that
learned professor himself experimenting. In the mean time
read what M. de Rochas tells us of Eusapia's youth : —

Her first mediumistic manifestations began at the age
of puberty, when she was about thirteen or fourteen years
old. This coincidence is foimd in almost all the cases

:io4.'

STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 141

in wbidi the gingular power of producing movements at a
distance has been observed.

At this epoch of her life it was remarked that the Spirit-
ualistic stances to which she was invited succeeded much
better when she was seated at the table. But they tired
and bored her, and she refrained from taking part in them
for eight or nine years.

It was only in her twenty-second or twenty-third year
that the Spiritualistic education of Eusapia began. It was
directed by: an ardent Spiritualist, M. Damiani. It was
then that the personality of John King appeared, a spirit
who took possession of her when she was in the trance state.*

This John King is said to be the brother of Crookcs's
£atie King, and to have been Eusapia's father in another
existence. It is John who speaks when Eusapia is in her
trance ; when he speaks of her, he calls her ^^ my dau^ter,"
and gives advice about the care of her person and life. M.
Ochorowicz thinks this John is a personality created in the
spirit of Eusapia by the union of a certain number of impres-
sions collected in the different psychic environments in
which her life has been passed. This would be almost the
identical explanation for the personalities suggested by the
hypnotists, and for the variations of personality observed by
MM. Azam, Bourru, and Buret, et al.

Some have thought they noticed tliat Eusapia prepared
herself, consciously or unconsciously, at the seance, by di-
minishing her respiration, — a very singular thing. At the
same time, her pulse gradually rises from 88 to 120 pulsa-
tions a minute. Is this a practice analogous to that which
the fakirs of India employ, or a simple effect of the emotion
which, before every seance, Eusapia experiences ? — a fact
which has a strong tendency to convince the sitters, but
is never sure of the production of the phenomena.

Eusapia is not hypnotized; she enters of herself into the
trance state when she becomes a link in the chain of hands.

She begins to sigh deeply, then yawns and hiccoughs. A
series of varied expressions passes over her face. Sometimes

•The word **traiice '* has Ijeen given to the peculiar state into which
pjodiums fall when they lo»e the consciousness of their environment.
It is a kind of somnambulistic sleep.

142 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

it takes on a demoniacal look, accompanied by a fitful laugh
very much like that which Gounod gives to Mephistopheles
in the opera of Faust, and which almost always precedes an
important phenomenon. Sometimes her face flushes; the
eyes become brilliant and liquid, and are opened wide. The
smile and the motions are the mark of the erotic ecstasy.
She says '^ mio caro" ("my dear"), leans her head upon
the shoulder of her nei^bor, and courts caresses when she
believes that he is sympathetic. It is at this point that phe-
nomena are produced, the success of which causes her agree-
able and even voluptuous thrills. During this time her
legs and her arms are in a state of marked tension, almost
rigid, or even undergo convulsive contractions. Sometimes
a tremor goes through her entire body.

To these states of nervous super-activity succeeds a period
of depression characterized by an almost corpse-like paleness
of the face (which is frequently covered with perspiration)
and the almost complete inertia of her limbs. If she lifts
her hand, it falls back of its own weight.

During the trance her eyes are turned up, and only tho
white is visible. Her presence of mind and her general
consciousness are diminished or not at all in evidence. She
gives no reply, or, if she does, her reply is retarded by ques-
tions. Eusapia has no recollection of what has taken place
during the seances, except for states of mind bordering close
on those of her normal state; and, consequently, they only
relate, as a general thing, to phenomena of slight intensity.

In order to aid in the manifestations, she frequently asks
that her force be increased by putting one more person in the
chain. It has frequently happened to her to address a sym-
pathetic spectator, to take his fingers and press them as if
to draw something out of them, then push them abruptly
away, saying that she has enough force.

In proportion as her trance increases, her sensibility to
light increases. A sudden light causes diflSculty in her
breathing, rapid beatings of the heart, an hysterical feeling,
general irritation of the nerves, pain in the head and eyes,
and a trembling of the whole body, with convulsions, — ex-
cept when she herself asks for light (a thing which fre-
quently happens to her when there are interesting verifica-

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 143

tiou to be made upon the subject of displaced objects), for
then her attention is strongly called iu other directions.

She ia in constant motion during the active period of tho
seancee. These movements may be attributed to the hys-
terical crises which then agitate her; but they appear to be
necessary to the production of the phenomena. Every time
that a movement is being caused at a distance, she imitates
it, either with her hands or with her feet, and by developing
t much stronger force than would be necessary for producing
the movement by contact

Here is what she herself says of her impressions when
she wishes to produce a movement at a distance. She sudr
denly experiences an ardent desire to produce the phenomena;
then she has a feeling of numbness and the goose-flesh scnsa-
Hon in her fingers; these sensations keep increasing; at the
tame time she feels in the inferior portion of the vertebral
column the flowing of a current which rapidly extends into
her arm as far as her elbow, where it is gently arrested. It
is at this point that the phenomenon takes place.

During and after the Icvitations of the tabloid she has a
feeling of pain in her knees ; during and after other phenom-
ena, in her elbows and all through her arms.

It was only in the end of February, 1891, that Professor
Lombroso, whose curiosity had finally been strongly excited,
decided to come to Naples to examine these curious mani-
festations about which everybody in Italy was speaking.
The following reports by M. Ciolfi were published apropos
of this visit.*

First Seance

A large room, selected on the first floor by these gentlemen,
had been put at our disposal. M. lx)mbro8o began by care-
fully examining the medium, after which we took places
around a gaming table. Mme. Paladino sat at one end; at
her left, MM. Lombroso and Gigli ; I faced tho medium, be-
tween MM. Gigli and Vizioli ; then came MM. Ascensi and

* Annalea dea §cicnc€§ paychiquea, 181, p. 326.

144 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Tamburiniy who closed the circle^ the last named at the
right of the medium and in contact with her.

The room was lighted by candles placed upon a table be-
hind Mme. Paladino. MM. Tamburini and Lombroso each
held a hand of the medium. Their knees touched hers, at a
certain distance from the feet of the table ; and her feet were
under theirs.

After a rather long wait the table began to move, slowly
at first, — a matter explained by the scepticism, not to say
the positively hostile spirit, of those who were this night
in a seance circle for the first time. Then, little by little,
the movements increased in intensity. M. Lombroso proved
the levitation of the table, and estimated at twelve or fifteen
pounds the resistance to the pressure which he had to make
with his hands in order to overcome that levitation.

This phenomenon of a heavy body sustained in the air,
off its centre of gravity and resisting a pressure of twelve or
fifteen poimds, very much surprised and astonished the
learned gentlemen, who attributed it to the action of an
unknown magnetic force.

At my request, taps and scratchings were heard in the
table. This was new cause for astonishment, and led the gen-
tlemen to themselves call for the putting out of the candles in
order to ascertain whether the intensity of the noises would
be increased, as had been stated. All remained seated and
in contact.

In a dim light which did not hinder the most careful
surveillance, violent blows were first heard at the middle
point of the table. Then a bell placed upon a round table,
at the distance of a yard to the left of the medium (in such
a way that she was placed behind and to the right of M.
Lombroso), rose into the air, and went tinkling over the
heads of the company, describing a circle around our table,
where it finally came to rest.

In the midst of the expressions of deep amazement which
this unexpected phenomenon drew forth, M. Lombroso showed
a strong desire to hear and to prove it again. Whereupon
the little bell began to sound, and again made the tour of the
table, redoubling its strokes upon it, to such a degree that
M. Ascensi, divided between astonishment and the fear of

OTHER SEANCES WITH EUSAPIA 145

having his fingers broken (the bell weighed fully ten
ounces), hastened to rise and go and seat himself on a sofa
behind me.

I kept insisting that we had to do with an intelligent
force, — a matter 5iat he persistently denied, — and that con-
sequently there was nothing to fear. But M. Asoensi re-
fused, under any circumstances, to take his place again at
the table.

I called attention to the fact that the circle was broken,
since one of the experimenters had left, and that, imder
penalty of no longer being able to observe the phenom-
ena in a cool judicious spirit, it would be necessary that he
should at least keep silent and motionless. M. Asoensi was
very willing to pledge himself to that.

The light was extinguished, and the experiments began
again. While, in response to a unanimous wish, the little bell
was beginning again its tinklings and its mysterious aerial
circuits, M. Ascensi, taking his cue, unknown to us, from M.
Tamburini, went (unperceived, owing to the darkness), and
stood at the right of the medium, and at once with a single
scratch lighted a match, so successfully, as he declared, that
he could see the Uttle bell, while it was vibrating in the air,
suddenly fall upon a bed about six feet and a half behind «
Mme. Paladino.

I will not attempt to depict for you the amazement of the
learned body, the most striking manifestation of which was
a rapid exchange of questions and comments upon this
strange occurrence.

After some remarks I made about the intervention of M.
Aftcensi, who seemed likely to seriously trouble the psychic
condition of the medium, the darkness was turned on again,
so to speak, in order to continue the experiments.

At first it was a little work-table, small, but heavy, that
moved about. It was placed at the left of Mme. Eusapia,
and it was upon it that the little bell was placed at the be-
ginning of the seance. This small piece of furniture struck
against the chair on which M. Lombroso was seated, and
tried to hoist itself up on our table.

In the presence of this new phenomenon, M. Vizioli gave
up his place at our table to M. Ascensi and went to stand

146 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

between the work-table and Mme. Eusapia, to whom he
turned his back. At least he said he did all this, for we
could not see him on account of the darkness. He took the
little table between his two hands and tried to hold it; but,
in spite of his efforts, it released itself and went rolling over
the floor.

An important point to note is that, although MM. Lom-
broso and Tamburini had not for a moment let go of the
hands of Mme. Paladino, Professor Vizioli announced that
he felt a pinch in the bacL General hilarity followed this
declaration.

M. Lombroso stated that he had felt his chair lifted up
so that he was compelled to remain standing for some time,
after which his chair had been so placed as to permit him to
sit down again.

He also experienced twitches upon his clothes. Then he
and M. Tamburini felt the touches of an invisible hand upon
their cheeks and fingers.

M. Lombroso, especially struck with the two facts of the
.work-table and the little bell, judged them of sufficient impor-
tance for him to put off till Tuesday his departure from
Naples, which had been first fixed for Monday.

Upon his request I promised a new seance, on Monday,
at the Hotel de Geneve.

Second Seance

At eight o'clock in the evening I arrived at the Hotel de
Geneve, accompanied by the medium, Eusapia Paladino.
We were received under the colonnade by MM. Lombroso,
Tamburini, Ascensi, and several other persons whom they
had invited; namely Professors Gigli, Limoncelli, Vizioli,
and Bianchi (superintendent of the insane asylum at Sales),
Dr. Penta, and a young nephew of M. Lombroso, who lives
at Naples.

After the customary introductions, we were asked to go
up to the highest story in the house, where we were intro-
duced into a very large room with an alcove. Curtains, or
portieres, were let down across the front of the alcove. Be-
hind the curtains at a distance of about three feet and a half,

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 147

measured by MM. Lombroeo and Tamburini, there was
placed, in this alcove, a ronnd table, with a porcelain salver
filled with flour, in the hope of obtaining face-imprints in it.
The alcove also contained a tin trumpet, writing-paper, and
a sealed envelope containing a sheet of white paper, to see
if we could not get direct writing on it

The gentlemen inspected the alcove with extreme care, in
order to assure themselves that there was nothing there of a
fixed-up, suspicious nature.

Mme. Paladino sat down at the table, a little less than two
feet from the alcove curtains, turning her back to them.
Then, at her request, she had her body and her feet tied to
her chair by means of cloth bands. This was effected by
three members of the company, who left only her arms free.
That done, places were taken at the table in the following
order: on the left of Mme. Eusapia, M. Lombroso; then, in
succession, M. Vizioli, myself, the nephew of M. Lombroso,
MM. OigU, limoncelli, Tamburini ; finally, Dr. Penta, who
completed the circle and sat at the right of the medium.

MM. Ascensi and Bianchi refused to form part of the cir-
cle, and remained standing behind MM. Tamburini and
Penta. I paid little attention to these two, being certain
that their action was a premeditated combination in order to
redouble the vigilance. I simply recommended that, while
they were observing with extreme care, each should remain
quiet

The experiments began in candlelight strong enough to
light up the whole room. After a long wait tlie table bogan
to move, slowly at first, then more energetically. How-
ever, the movements remained intermittent, labored, and
mudi less vigorous than at Saturday's seance.

The table volunteered a request by taps of its leg des-
ignating the letters of the alphabet, that MM. Limoncelli and
Penta ^ould exchange places. This exchange effected, the
table called for the turning out of lights.

A moment after, and with more force this time, the move-
ments of the table began again. Suddenly, in the midst of
these, violent blows were heard. The chair placed at M.
Lombroso's right tried to climb up on the table, then hung
suspended upon the arm of the learned professor. All of

148 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

a sudden the curtains of the alcove were shaken, and swung
forward over the table in such a way as to envelop M. Lom-
brosOy who was very much moved by such a wonder, as he
himself has declared.

All these phenomena, happening at long intervals, in the
darkness, and in the midst of noisy conversation, were not
estimated at their true worth. It was thought that they were
only the effects of chance or were jests of some member of
the company.

While we are all waiting and discussing the import of the
phenomena and the greater or less value that should be set
on them, the noise of the fall of an object is heard. When
the room is lighted, there is found at our feet imder the table
the trumpet which had been placed on the round table in
the alcove behind the curtains. This circumstance, which
MM. Bianchi and Ascensi receive with a burst of laughter,
surprises the experimenters, and has the effect of more com-
pletely fixing their attention.

The room is darkened again, and, by urgent request some
fugitive glimmers of light are seen to appear and disappear
at long intervals. This phenomenon impressed MM. Bian-
chi and Ascensi, and put an end to their incessant railleries,
so much so that they came and formed a part of the circle.
At the moment of the appearance of the gleams, and even
some time after they had ceased to show themselves, MM.
Limoncelli and Tamburini, at the right of the medium, said
that they were touched in several places by a hand. M.
Lombroso's young nephew, absolutely sceptical, who had
taken a seat by the side of M. Limoncelli, declared that he
felt the touch of a flesh-and-blood hand, and asked with some
impetuosity who did that. He forgot — being not only
sceptical, but artless — that, like himself, all the persons
present were helping to form the chain of hands and were in
mutual contact.

It was getting late, and the lack of homogeneity in the cir-
cle was abridging the phenomena. Under these conditions
I thought T ought to end the seance and cause the candies
to be lighted.

When MM. Limoncelli and Vizioli were taking leave, the
medium being still seated and bound, and all of us were

OTHER S]^ANCES WITH EUSAPIA 149

standing around the table conversing about the luminous phe-
nomena, and comparing the scattered and feeble effects ob-
tained in this soiree with those of the Saturday preceding,
and seeking the reason for this difference, we heard noise
in the alcove, and saw the portieres which enclosed it vigors
ously shaken, and the round table which was behind them
slowly advancing toward Mme. Faladino, still seated and
bound.

On seeing this strange, unexpected phenomena occur in
full light, we were all stupefied with amazement. M. Bian-
chi and M. Lombroso's nephew dashed into the alcove, under
the impression tliat some person concealed there was pro-
ducing the movement of the portieres and the round table.
Their astonishment was unbounded when they ascertained
that there was no one there, and that, under their very eyes,
the table continued to glide over the floor in the direction of
the medium. That is not all. Professor Lombroeo ob-
served that, while the table was in movement, the salver on
it had been turned upside down without a single particle of
the flour which it contained being spilled ; and he added that
no prestidigitator would have been able to accomplish such a
feat In the presence of these phenomena taking place as
they did, after the breaking up of the circle, in such a way
as to eliminate the hypothesis of a magnetic current. Pro-
fessor Bianchi, in obedience to the love of truth, confessed
that it was he who, for the sake of a joke, had contrived and
brought about the fall of the tin trumpet, but that in the
presence of such achievements as this he could no longer be
sceptical, and was going to apply himself to the study of
them in order to investigate their causes.

Professor Lombroso complained of the trick, and said to M.
Bianchi that, as between professors met in order to make
scientific studies and researches in common, mystifying
pranks like this could not but cast a slur upon the respect
due to science.

Professor Lombroso, who was a prey both to doubt and to
ideas of his own which tormented his mind, made an en-
gagement to be present at further meetings on his return to
Naples in the following summer.

150 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

M. Ciolfi, having sent these two reports to M. Lombroso,
the eminent professor of Turin confirmed their accuracy in
the following letter, dated June 25, 1891 : —

Dear Sir, — The two reports that you have sent me are
of the utmost accuracy. I add that, before we had seen the
salver turned over, the medium had announced that she
would sprinkle the faces of those who sat by her with flour;
and everything leads to the belief that such was her intention,
but that she was not able to realize it, — a new proof, to my
mind, of her perfect honesty, especially considering her
semi-unconsciousness.

I am filled with confusion and regret that I combated
with so much persistence the possibility of the facts called
Spiritualistic. I say facts, because I am still opposed to the
theory.

Please give my greetings to M. E. Chiaia, and, if it is
possible, get M. Albini to examine the visual field and the
inner recesses of the eye of the medium, about which I desire
to inform myself.

Yours very truly,

C. LOMBBOSO.

M. Lombroso soon after published his experiences and
reflections, in «n article in tlie Annales des sciences psy^
chiques (1892) which ends thus:

None of these facts, (which we must admit, because no one
can deny things which he has seen) is of such a nature as
to lead us to form for their explanation an hypothesis of a
world different from that admitted by the neuro-patholo-
gists.

Above all, we must not forget that Mme. Eusapia is a
neuropath ; that in her childhood she received a blow on the
left parietal bone, which produced a hole so deep that you
could put your flnger in it ; that she remained subject to at-
tacks of epilepsy, catalepsy, and hysteria, which take place
especially during the s6ance phenomena; and that, flnally,
she has a remarkable obtuseness of touch*

OTHER Sf ANCES WITH EUSAPIA 161

Well, I do not see anything inadmissible in this, — that
in the case of hypnotic and hysterical persons the excitation
of certain centres, which become powerful by the paralysis
of all the others and then provoke a transposition and a
transmission of physical forces, may also produce a transfor-
mation in luminous force or in motive force. Thus we
understand how the force in a medium which I shall call
cortical or cerebral may, for example, lift the table, pull
somebody's beard, hit him, caress him, etc.

During the transposition of senses due to hypnotism, —
when, for example, the nose and the chin see (and that is a
fact which I observed with my own eyes), and when for
some moments all the other senses are paralyzed, the cortical
centre of vision, which has its seat in the brain, acquires such
an energy that it supersedes the eye. It is this which we
have been able to prove, Ottolenghi and I, in the case of
three hypnotized persons, by making use of the lens and of
the prism.

The phenomena observed would be explained, according
to this theory, by a transformation of the powers of the
medium. Let us continue our account of the experiments.

Taking into consideration the testimony of Professor
Lombroso, several savants — including MM. Schiaparelli, di-
rector of the observatory at Milan; (Jerosa, professor of
physics; Ermacora, doctor of natural philosophy; Aksakof,
councillor of state to the Emperor of Russia; Charles du
Prol, doctor of philosophy in Munich ; Dr. Ricliet, of Paris,
and Professor Buffern — met in October, 1892, in the apart-
ment of M. Finzi, at Milan, to renew these experiments.
M. Lombroso was present at several of the soirees. There
were seventeen in all.

The experimenters present signed the following long
declaration :

The results obtained did not always come up to our ex-
pectations. Not that we did not secure a large number of

162 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

facts apparently or really important and marvellous; but,
in the greater number of cases, we were not able to apply
the rules of experimental science which, in other fields of
observation, are regarded as indispensable in order to arrive
at certain and incontestable results. The most important
of these rules consists in changing, one after the other, the
methods of experiment, in such a way as to bring out the true
cause, or at least the true conditions of all the events. Now
it is precisely from this point of view that our experiments
seem to us still incomplete.

It is very true that the medium, to prove her good faith,
often voluntarily proposed to change some feature of one or
the other experiment, and frequently herself took the initia-
tive in these changes. But this applied only to things that
were apparently indiflFerent, according to our way of seeing.
On the contrary, the changes which seemed to us necessary
to put the true character of the results beyond doubt, either
were not accepted as possible or ended in uncertain results.

We do not believe we have the right to explain these
things by the aid of insulting assumptions, which many still
find to be the simplest explanation, and of which some
journals have made themselves champions. We think, on
the contrary, that these experiments are concerned with phe-
nomena of an unknown nature, and we confess that we do not
know what the conditions are that are required to produce
them. To desire to fix these conditions in our own right and
out of our own head would be as extravagant as to pre-
sume to make the experiment of Torricelli's barometer with
a tube closed at the bottom, or to make electrostatic exper-
iments in an atmosphere saturated with humidity, or to take
a photograph by exposing the sensitive plate in full light
before placing it in the camera. However, it is a fact that
the impossibility of varying the experiments in our own
way has diminished the worth and the interest of the results
obtained, by depriving them of that rigorous demonstration
which we are right in demanding in cases of this kind, or,
rather, to which we ought to aspire.

The following are the principal phenomena observed.

OTHER SEANCES WITH EUSAPIA 153

Leviiation of One Side of the Table

We agreed to have the medium sit alone at the table, in
fall light, her two hands placed on its upper surface and her
sleeves drawn back to the elbows.

We remained standing about her, and the space above and
under the table was well lighted. Under these condition>)
the table rose at an angle of twenty to forty degrees, and so
remained for some minutes, while the medium was holding
her legs stretched out and striking her feet one against the
ether. When we pressed with the hand upon the lifted side
of the table, we experienced a considerable elastic resist-
ance.

The table was suspended by one of its ends to a dynamo-
meter which was coupled to a cord : this cord was tied to a
small beam supported upon two wardrobes.

Under these conditions, the end of the table having been
lifted six and a half inches, the dynamometer showed sev-
enty-seven pounds. The medium sat at the same narrow end
of the table, with her hands wholly on the table, to the right
and the left of the point where the d;>Tiamometer w^as at-
tached. Our hands formed the chain upon the table, with-
out pressure: they would not have been able in any case to
do more than increase the pressure brought to bear on the
table. On the contrary, the desire was expressed that the
pressure should diminish, and soon the table began to rise
on the side of the dynamometer. M. Gerosa, who was fol-
lowing the marks on the apparatus, announced this diminu-
tion, expressed by the successive figures 7Vi>, 4V^, 2V^,
(pounds). At the last the levitation was such that the
dynamometer rested horizontally on the table.

Then we changed the conditions by putting our hands
under the table. The medium, especially, put hers, not un-
der the edge, where it might have touched the vertical bor-
der-board and exercised a push downwards, but under the
rail that unites the feet, and touched this, not with the palm,
but with the hack of the hand. Thus all the hands together
could only have diminished the traction upon the dynamo-
meter. Upon the desire being expressed to see this traction
augment, it increased from 7^/2 pounds to 13 pounds. Dur-

154 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ing all these experiments each of the medium's feet rested
tinder the foot of her nearest neighbor to right or left

Complete Levitation of the Table.

It was natural to conclude that if the table, in apparent
contradiction to the law of gravity, was able to rise partly,
it would be able to rise entirely from the floor. As a mat-
ter of fact, this 18 what happened. This levitation, one of
the most frequent phenomena that occur in the experiments
with Eusapia, stood a most satisfactory examination.

The phenomenon always materialized under the following
conditions: the persons seated about the table place their
hands on it, and form the chain ; each hand of the medium
is held by the adjacent hand of her two neighbors; each of
her feet remains under the feet of her neighbor, who also
press her knees with theirs. She is seated, as usual, at one of
the small ends of the table, a position least favorable for a
mechanical levitation. At the end of several minutes the ta-
ble makes a side movement, rises first to the right, then to
the left, and finally mounts off of its four feet straight into
the air, and lies there horizontally (as if it were floating on a
liquid), ordinarily at a height of from 4 to 8 inches (in
exceptional cases from 24 to 27 inches) ; then falls back
and rests on its four feet. It frequently remains in the air
for several seconds, and while there also makes undulatory
motions, during which the position of the feet under the
table can be thoroughly examined. During the levitation
the right hand of the medium often leaves the table, as well
as that of her neighbor, and is held in the air above.

In order the better to observe this thing, we removed one
by one the persons placed at the table, recognizing the
truth that the chain formed by several persons was neither
necessary for this phenomenon nor for others. Finally, we
left only a single person with the medium, seated at her
left. This person placed her foot u])on Eusapia's two feet
and one hand upon her knees, and held with her other hand
the left hand of the medium. Eusapia's right hand was on
the table, in full view, — though sometimes she held it in the
air during the levitation.

%-M

Flatb VIII. Driwim: FHOM I'lKmX.RAMI. SllOWIV.^ Mkikoi. •

CUNTHOL HT I>K<>KF:->-<>H.> I.OHKKnSO AVJ> KkKET »t-
ElSAI'l*. T..I1LE CoMl-LtrKLV liAlSF.I.,

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 155

Afl the table renuined in the air for several ficcond.^, it
was possible to obtain several photographs of the perform-
ance. Three pieces of photographic apparatus were working
together in different parts of the room, and the illumination
was furnished hy a magnesium light at the opportune mo-
ment. Twenty photographs were obtained, some of which
are excellent. Upon one of them (PL VIII) we see Pro-
fessor Bichet, who holds one hand, the knees, and a foot of
the medium. The other hand of the latter is held by Pro-
fessor Lombroso. The table is shown horizontally lifted, —
a fact proved by the interval between the extremity of each
foot and the extremity of the corresponding projected shadow.

In all the experiments which precede, we gave our atten-
tion principally to a careful inspection of die position of
the hands and the feet of the medium ; and, in this respect,
we believe we can aay that they were safe from all criticism.
Still, a scrupulous sincerity compels us to mention the fact
to which we did not begin to call attention before the evening
of October 5, but which probably must have occurred also in
the preceding experiments. It consists in this, that the four
feet of the table could not be considered as perfectly isolated
during the levitation, because one of them at least was in
contact with the lower edge of the medium's dress.

On this evening it was remarked that a little before the
levitation, Eusapia's skirt was inflated on the left side until
it touched the foot of the nearest table. One of us having
been charged with the duty of hindering this contact, the
table was unable to rise as before, and it only did rise when
the observer intentionally permitted the contact to take place.
This is shown in the photographs taken during this experi-
ment, and also in those in which the table-foot in question is
visible (after a fashion) at its lower extremity. The reader
will see that at the same time the medium had her hand
placed upon the upper surface of the table, and on the same
side, in such a way that this table-foot was under her in-
fluence, as much in its lower portion, by means of the dress,
as in the upper portion, by means of the hand.

Xow in what way is it possible for the contact of a light
dress-stuff with the lower extremity of the foot of a table to
assist in the levitation '( That is something we do not know.

166 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

The hypothesis that the dress may conceal a solid support,
skilfully introduced, which may serve as a temporary sup-
port for the foot of the table, is a very poor one.

In fact, to keep the whole taUe resting on this one foot
through the influence that a single hand could produce upon
the upper surface of the table would require that the hand
exercise upon the table a very strong pressure, one that we
cannot suppose Eusapia capable of, even during three or
four seconds.

We convinced ourselves of this by ourselves making proof
of it with the same table. "^

Movements of Objects at a Distance, withotit Contact with

Any of the Persons Present

1. Spontaneous movements of objects.

These phenomena were observed several times during our
stances. It often happened that a chair, placed for this
purpose not far from the table, between the medium and one
of her neighbors, began to move about, and sometimes came
up to the table. A remarkable instance occurred in the sec-
ond seance, everything being all the time in full light. A
heavy chair, weighing twenty-two pounds, which stood a
yard from the table and behind the medium, came up to M.
Schiaparelli, who was seated next the medium. He rose to
put it back in its place ; but scarcely was he seated when the
chair advanced a second time toward him.

2. Movement of the table without contact

* However, some doubt may remain. In my photographs, also (PI.
I. and VI.), the foot of the table at the left of the medium is concealed.
As I myself was at this very place, I am sure that the medium was
unable to lift the table with her foot, for this foot ictts held under mine,
not by a rod or by any support whatever; for I had a hand upon her
legs, V/hich did not move. The objection is moreover refuted by the
experiment which I made on the 29th of March, 1906 (see p. 6), of a
levitation, with Eusapia standing, — an experiment which had been
made before on the 27th of July, 1897, at Monfort-l'Amaury (see p.
82), the feet, very naturally, iMeing visible. Hence there can be no
doubt whatever about the complete levitation of the table floating in
space. Aksakof obtained a levitation, in the stences at Milan, after
having tied Kusapia's feet with two strings, the ends of which were
short and had been sealed to the floor very near each foot.

Farther on the reader will be given proof of other undeniable in-
stances, among others, at pp. 164, 165.

OTHER SEAXCES WITH EUSAPIA 157

It was desirable to obtain this pheDOmenon as a matter
of experiment. For that purpose, the table being placed
upon casters, the feet of tlie medium were watched, as ha;*
been said, and all of the sitters formed the chain with their
hands, including those of the medium. When the table
b^an to move, we all lifted our hands, without breaking
the chain, and the table thus isolated made several move-
ments. This experiment was several times renewed.

The Fetching of Different Objects, the Honda of the Me-
dium Being tied to those of her Neighbors.

In order to assure ourselves that we were not the victims
of a trick, we tied the bends of the medium by a string to
those of her two neighbors, in such a way that the movements
of the four hands would reciprocally control each other.
The length of the cord between the hands of the medium was
from eight to twelve inches, and between each one of her
hands and the hands of her neigfabors four inches. This
distance of space was purposely arranged in order that the
hands of the neighboring persons might, in addition, readily
hold those of the medium during the convulsive movements
which usually agitate her.

The tying was done in the following way: we took three
turns of the string around each wriet of the medium, without
leaving any slack, but drawn so tightly as almost to give
her pain,* and then we tied two simple knots. This was

*I bear verj often the following objection: "I ahall oaljr be-
lieve in tnediumi who are not Temunerated ; all thoae who are paid «ro
tinder auspicion." Eusapia belonga to theM laxt. Being without for-
tune, aha never visita a citj unleaa her travelling and liotel eipenaea
are paid. She alw loaee faer time, and la eubmitted to a not very agree-
able inquisition. For tn^ poi^i I do not admit the above abjection at
all. The physlMl and intelle<^ual faculties have nothing in common
with money-gettinK. U will be eaid that the medium ia intereated in
deceiving and tricking: it increeaee her fees. But there are a good
many other temptations in the world. I have seen unpaid mediums,
fnpn and women of aociety, cheat without any aomple, from pure van-
r for a purpone still less fit to be avowed, — (or the mere plens-

re of trapping some one. The stences of Spiritualism have been made
D serve uaefuT and agreeable ends in fashionable society — and more
han one marriage has originated there.
We must be as sceptical about one class of inediuma as about an-

158 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

done in order that, if by any artifice the hand was able to
release itself from the string, the three turns would work
against it and the hand could not get back again under the
string as it was before.

A little bell was placed upon a chair bdiind her. The
chain was formed, and her hands as well as her feet were
held as usual The room was darkened in answer to the re-
quest that the little bell should at once sound, after which
we were to untie the medium. Immediately we heard
the chair move, describe a curve upon the floor, approach
the table, and presently place itself upon it The bell rang,
then was thrown upon the table. The light having been at
once turned on, we ascertained that the knots of the string
were in perfect order. It is clear that the fetching on of the
chair was not produced by the action of the hands of the
medium.

Impressions of Fingers obtained on Smoked Paper.

In order to decide if we had to do with a human hand ....
or with any other way of dealing, we fixed a sheet of paper,
blackened with the smoke of a lamp, upon the table, on the
side opposite that of the medium, and expressed a wish that
the hand would leave an impression on it, that the hand of
the medium should remain unsoiled, and that the lampblack
be transferred to the hands of one of us. The hands of the
medium were held by those of MM. Schiaparelli and Du
Prel. The chain was made in the darkness, then we heard
a hand lightly tap upon the table, and presently M. Du Prel
announced that his left hand, which he held on the right
hand of M. Finzi, had had the sensation of fingers rubbing
it. As soon as the room was lighted, we found upon the
paper several imprints of fingers, and the back of M. Du
Prel's hand was covered with lampblack; but the hands of
the medium, examined then and there, had no trace of U.
This experience was repeated three times. When we insisted
upon having a complete impression, we obtained five fingers
upon a second sheet of paper, and upon a third the impres-
sion of almost an entire left hand. After that the bade of

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 159
M. Da Frel'B baad was completely blaekeoed, die hands of
the medium remaining perfectly clean.

Apparition of Hands upon a Dimly Lighted Background

We placed upon the table a large cardboard covered with
a phosphorescent subelance (sulphide of calcium), and we
placed other pieces of cardboard upon chairs in different
parts of the (Camber. Under such conditions we saw very
plainly the outline of a hand imposed on the cardboard ot
the table. Upon the background formed by the other pieces
wo saw the shadow of the hand pass and repass around us.

On the evening of September 21 one of us several times
saw the image, not of one, but of two hands at once, thrown
upon the glass panes of a feebly illuminated window (out*
side it was night, but the darkness wae not complete).
These hands exhibited a rapid tremulous motion, but not so
rupid as to binder us from seeing the outline clearly. They
were wholly opaque and were thrown upon the window as
absolutely black silhouettes.

This simultaneous appearance of two hands is very signi-
ficant, for they cannot be explained on the hypothesis of a
trick of the medium, who would not have been able in any
way to free mure than one of her handx, owing to the
surveillance of those who sat beside her. The same conclu-
sion applies to the clapping of two hands, one against the
other, which was several times heard in the air.

The Levilation of the Medium to the Top of the Table

We regard this levitation as among the most important
and most significant of Spiritualistic achievements. It took
place twice, on September 28 and October 3. The medium
was seated at one end of the table, uttering deep groans,
and was lifted up with her chair and placed upon the table,
not moving from her position, those next bcr still holding her
hands as she rose.

On the evening of September 28, while her two hands were
held by ilM. Richet and Lombroso, the medium complained
of their grasping her under the arm. Then, in a state of

160 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

trance she said, with the changed voice which she usually
has while in this state, ^^ Now I bring up my medium upon
the table." At the end of two or three seconds the chair,
with the medium seated in it^ was not thrown, but lifted
with precaution and placed upon the table. MM. Richei
and Lombroso are sure they did not assist her in this ascen-
sion. After she had spoken, being all the time in a state
of trance, the medium announced her descent, and (M.
Finzi being substituted for M. Lombroso) was placed upon
the floor with care and precision, MM. Richet and Finzi fol-
lowing her movements without at all assisting them.

Moreover, during the descent, both gentlemen felt a hand
touching them lightly several times upon the head. On
the evening of October 3 the same phenomenon was repeated
in similar circumstances.

Touchings

Some of these merit particular notice, owing to a circum-
stance capable of giving us an interesting notion of their
possible origin. Our first business is to describe the touch-
ings which were felt by persons beyond the reach of the
hands of the medium. Thus, on the evening of October 6,
M. Gerosa, who was separated from the medium by three
places (about four feet, the medium being a little to one
side and M. Gerosa in one of the adjacent corners at the
opposite short end of the table), having lifted his hand that
it might be touched, felt a hand strike his own several times
to make him lower it ; and, as he persisted, he was hit with
a trumpet, which an instant before had been making soimds
in the air.

In the second place, we must note touchings which con-
stitute very delicate operations, and which cannot be made
in the darkness with the precision which we have noted in
them. Twice (on September 16 and 21) M. Schiaparelli
had his spectacles removed from his nose and laid down on
the table before another person. These glasses are fixed to
the ears by means of two springs, and a certain amount of
attention is necessary in order to remove them, even to one
working in full light. Yet they were removed in complete

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 161

darkness with so much delicacy and promptness that the said
experimenter only perceived the loss of them when he no
longer had the usual feeling of them on his nose, on his tem-
ples, and behind his ears^ and he was obliged to feel with his
hands in order to be sure that they were no longer in their
usual place.

Many other touchings produced similar effects, and were
executed with extreme delicacy; for example, when one of
the company felt his hair and beard stroked.

In all of the innumerable manoeuvres executed by myste-
rious hands, there was never any awkward stumbling or col-
lision to be noted, though ordinarily this is inevitable when
one is working in the dark. I may add, in this connection,
that bodies tolerably heavy and bulky, such as chairs and ves-
sels full of clay, were deposited upon the table without hav-
ing collided with any of the numerous hands resting upon the
table, — a particularly difficult thing in the case of chairs
which, owing to their dimensions, occupied a large part of
the table. A chair was turned over on its face upon the
table and lay there at full length without causing the least
annoyance to anybody; and yet it covered almost the entire
surface.

Contact with a Human Face

One of us having expressed the wish to be kissed, felt be-
fore his very mouth the peculiar quick sounds of a kiss, but
not accompanied by any contact of lips. This happened
twice. On three different occasions one of the experimenters
felt the touch of a face with hair and beard. The feeling
of the skin was exactly that of a living man. The hair was
much coarser and more bristly than that of the medium, and
the beard seemed very soft and delicate.

Such are the experiments made at Milan in 1892 by the
group of savants cited above.

How can we help admitting, after the reading of this new
official report, the following things ?

1. The complete levitation of the tables.

2. The levitation of the medium.

iGii ^^lYSTKPJOUR PSYCniC FORCES

3. The movement of objects without contact.

4. Accurate and delicate touches made by invisible or-
gans.

5. The formation of hands and even of human figures.
These phenomena take their place in this book as things

which were observed with the most scrupulous care.

Let us note also the action of the little piece of furniture
(chair or round table), which tries to climb up on one of the
company or upon the large table, — a thing also observed by
myself.

Although the savants of the Milan group regretted that
they did not make experiments, but only observations (I
said above (p. 20), what we ought to think about this), the
facts were none the less proved.

I will add that after the reading of this proces-verhal, the
cautious reserves of M. Schiaparelli seem exaggerated. If
fraud has sometimes crept in, still what has been accurately
observed remains safe and sound and is an acquisition to
science.

Our medium, Eusapia, has been the subject of a fruitful
series of experiments. Let me also mention those of Naples
in 1893, under the direction of M. Wagner, Professor of
Zoology at the University of St. Petersburg; that of Rome
in 1893-1894, under the direction of M. de Siemiradski^
correspondent of the Institute; those of Varsovie, from the
25th of November, 1893, to the 15th of January, 1894, at
the house of Dr. Ochorowicz ; those of Carqueiranne and of
rrie Boubaud, in 1894, at the house of Professor Eichet;
those of Cambridge in August, 1895, at the house of Mr.
Myers ; those of the villa de 1' Agnellas, from the 20th to the
29th of September, 1895, at the house of Colonel de Rochas;
those of Auteuil, in September, 1896, at the house of M.
Marcel Mangin, etc. It woidd be entirely superfluous and

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 163

an unooDficioiiablj long task to analyze them all. Let us
merely select some special characteristic instances.
In the report of M. de Siemiradski we read as follows :

In the comer of the hall there was a piano, placed to the
left of Ochorowicz and Eusapia, and a little in the rear.
Some one desired to hear the keyboard touched. We at
once hear the moving of the piano. Ochorowicz can even
see the displacement, thanks to a ray of light which falls
upon the polished surface of the instrument through the
window shutters. The piano then opens noisily, and we hear
the baas notes of the keyboard sounding. I utter aloud my
desire to hear high notes and low notes touched at the same
time, as a proof that the unknown force can act at the two
ends of the keyboard. My wish is granted, and we hear bass
notes and treble notes sounded at the same time, which seems
to prove the action of two distinct hands. Then the instru-
merit advances toward us. It presses against our group,
and we are obliged to get up and move back with our ex-
periment table^ and we do not stop until we have thus moved
back several yards.

A glass half full of water, which stands on a buffet, out
of reach of our hands, was carried by an unknown power to
the lips of Ochorowicz, Eusapia, and another person, who all
drank of it. This performance took place in complete dark-
ness and with astonishing precision.

We were able to prove the existence of a real hand not be-
longing to any one present. We did it by means of the plas-
ter cast and mould, as follows:

Having placed a heavy basin filled with modelling-clay
upon the large table in the middle of the dining-room, we
sat down with Eusapia around the little experiment-table
more than a yard distant. After some minutes of waiting,
the basin came of itself and stood on our tablet Eusapia
groaned, writhed, and trembled in all her limbs ; yet not for
a moment did her hands quit ours. Then she cried, " E
fatto*^ ("It is done"). The candle is lighted again, and
we find an irregular hollowed* place upon the surface of the
clay. This hollow place, afterward filled with plaster, gives
us a perfect cast of the contracted fingers of a hand.

164 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

We placed upon the table a plate smeared with lampblack.
The mysterious hand left there the print of the end of its
fingers. The hands of the experimenters, including those
of Eusapia, remained white. We next induced the medium
to reproduce the impression of her own hand upon another
lamp-smoked plate. She did so. The layer of soot re-
moved by her fingers had deeply blackened them. A com-
parison of the two plates enabled us to prove a striking re-
semblance, — that is to say (to speak more accurately), the
identity of the arrangement of the spiral circles in tiie epi-
dermis of the two hands ; and we know that the arrangement
of these circles is unique in every individual. This is a
particular which speaks eloquently in favor of the hypothesis
of the double personality of the medium.

In order mechanically to control the movements of Eu-
sapia's feet, Dr. Ochorowicz employed the following piece
of apparatus. Two deep and narrow cigar-boxes were
placed under the table, and Eusapia put her unshod feet
into them. The boxes had double bottoms and were pro-
vided with an electrical arrangement of such a nature that
she could move her feet freely for some inches in every di-
rection; but, if she wished to withdraw them from the box,
the electric bell tinkled before she had moved them half
way to the top, and only stopped when they were returned
to their place. Eusapia cannot remain utterly quiet during
the seances. So she was given a certain freedom of move-
ment ; but it was impossible for her to make use of her legs
for lifting the table. Under these conditions the table,
weighing twenty-five pounds, rose up twice without the hell
being heard. During the second levitation the table was
photographed underneath. (The four feet of the table are
seen in the photograph. The left is in contact with Eu-
sapia's dress, as is always the case when the light is strong;
but the boxes holding the feet of the medium are in their
place.) Then the experimenters verified the fact that the

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 165
bell was heard, not only when she removed her foot, but
vhen she lifted it too high in the box.

After all these demoDstrations, I will not do my readers
the wrong of thinking that the levitation of the table is not
HOKt THAN PBOVBD for all of them.

Here, now, is a curious observation relative to the infla-
tion of the curtain: Ten persons were seated around the
table. Ensapia had her back turned to the curtain ; she was
controlled by General Starynkiewicz and Dr. Watraszewski.

I was seated (writes M. Glowacki-Prus) opposite Eosapia,
near Mile. X., a very nervous person and easily hypnotized.
The B^nce had lasted for about an hour, with numerous and
varied pben<nnena. Eusapia, as always, was in a semi-con-
scions state. Suddenly she awoke, and Hlle. X. uttered
a cry. Knowing what this cry meant, I grasped her hand
with great force and then put my arm about her; for this
girl becomes very strong in certain states. The room was
well lighted, and this is what we saw (something, be it noted,
which I myself experienced by my hands). Every time that
the muscles of MIU. X. became more tense and rigid, the
c-urtain which hung opposite her, at a distance of from seven
to ten feet, made a movement. The following table indi-
cates the details of this correlation:

Feeble tension of the muscles . . The curtain is set in mo-
tion.

Strong tension It bellies out like a sail.

Veiy strong tension, cries It reaches aa far as Euea-

pia's controllers, and al-
most wholly covers them.

Repose Repose.

Tension of the muscles Jtfovemcnt of the curtain.

Strong tension Strong inflation of the cui^

tain.

This tabular view presents the striking proportion which
I ascertained between the tension of the medium's muscles

166 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

(who in this case was Mile. X.) and the mechanical work
of the curtain in movement.

This experiment is so much the more interesting since it
was not Eusapia who made it ; and, if she had a trick for in-
flating the portieres, it was not employed in this case. We
already know that she had none.

Here are the conclusions of M. Ochorowicz :

1. I did not find any proofs in favor of the Spiritualistic
hypothesis; that is to say, in favor of the intervention of
an intelligence other than that of the medium. ^' John " is
for me only a psychic double of the medium. Consequently,
I am not a Spiritualist.

2. Mediumistic phenomena are confirmatory of " magnet-
ism " as opposed to " hypnotism '^ ; that is to say, they im-
ply the existence of a fluidic action apart from su^estion.

3. Still, suggestion plays an important role in them, and
the medium is only a mirror reflecting the forces and the
ideas of those present Moreover, she possesses the power
of realizing her own somnambulistic visions or those sug-
gested by the company, simply by the process of externaliz-
ing them.

4. No purely physical force explains these phenomena,
which are always of a psycho-physical nature, having a cen-
tre of action in the mind of the medium.

5. The phenomena proved do not contradict either me-
chanics in general or the law of the conservation of forces
in particular. The medium acts at the expense of her own
proper powers and at the expense of those of the persons
present

6. There exists a series of transitions between medium-
ship of an inferior kind (automatism, unconscious fraud)
and mediumship of a superior kind or extemalization of
motivity (action at a distance without visible and palpable
connecting link).

7. The hypothesis of a " fluidic double " (astral body),
which, under certain conditions, detaches itself and acts in-
dependently of the body of the medium, seems necessary for

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 167
tbe espUnation of the greater part of the phenomena. Ac-
cording to this conception, tbe moving of objects without con-
tact wonld be produced by the fluidic liinba of the medium.*

Sir Oliver Lodge, an eminent English physicist, rector
of the Univeraity of Birmingham, says that, on tbe invita-
tion of Dr. Ricbet, he went to attend the ezperimenta at
Carqneiranne, thoroughly convinced that he should not see
there any instance of physical movement without contact;
but that what he saw completely convinced him that phe-
nomena of that kind can have, under certain conditions, a
real and objective existence. He vouches for the follow-
ing verified facta :

1. UovementB of a chair at a distance, seen by the li|^t
of the moon, and in circuinstances which proved that there
was no mechanical connection.

2. Tbe inflation and the movement of a curtain in the
absence of wind or of any other ostensible cause.

3. The automatic winding up and moving about of a
muaic-box.

4. Sounds proceeding from a piano and from an accor-
dion wbich had not been touched.

5. A key turned in a lock, on tbe inside of the room
where the seances were held, then placed upon the table,
and again put back into the lock.

6. The overturning, by means of slow and correct evolu-
tions, of a heavy moving table, which was afterwards found
thus turned upside down.

7. The levitation of a heavy table, under conditions in
which it would have been impossible to lift it in ordinary
circumstances.

8. Tbe appearance of blue marks upon a table previously
spotless, and this done without the help of the ordinary
methods of writing.

9. Tbe sensation of blows, as if some one were striking the

*ThM« reports were published in detail In the work of M. da
Rocbaa on The Extemalitation of Motivity, 4tb edition, 1900, p. 170.

168 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

heady the arms, or the back, while the head, the hands,
and the feet of the medium were plainly in view or held
apart from the portions of the body that were touched.

It is plain enough what part the above statements play in
our argument They are throughout simply confirmations
of the experiments described above.

At Cambridge, Eusapia was taken in the very act of de-
ception; namely, the substitution of hands. While the con-
trollers believed that they were holding her two hands, they
were only holding one of them : the other was free. So these
experimenters at Cambridge imanimously declared that
" everything was fraud, from the beginning to the end," in
Eusapia Paladino's twenty seances.

In a paper sent to M. de Rochas, M. Ochorowicz con-
tested this radical conclusion, for several reasons. Eusapia
is very susceptible to suggestion, and, by indulging her in-
clination to fraud and not hindering it, they incite her to it
still more by a kind of tacit encouragement. Moreover, her
fraud is generally of an unconscious kind. I append here,
as a particular illustration of this, a rather typical story
about her:

One evening, at Varsovie (says M. Ochorowicz), Eu-
sapia is sleeping in her chamber by the side of ours. I have
not yet gone to sleep, when suddenly I hear her rising and
moving about with bare feet in the drawing-room. Then
she enters her chamber again and approaches our door. I
make a sign to Mme. Ochorowicz, who has waked up, to be
quiet and to observe carefully what is going to take place.
A moment after, Eusapia gently opens the door, comes up
to my wife's toilet-table, opens a drawer, shuts it, and goes
away, carefully avoiding making any noise. I hastily dress
myself and we enter her chamber. Eusapia is quietly sleep-
ing. The light of our candle seems to wake her.

" What were you hunting for in our sleeping-room ? "

" I ? I haven't left this place."

OTHER sfAXCES WITH EUSAPIA 160

Seeing the uselesaness of farther qnestiona, we go to bed
again, adTising her to sleep quietly.

Next day I ask her the same question. She ia very much
iBtoniahed and even troubled (she blushes slightly).

"* How should I dare," said she, *^ to enter your chamber
daring the night ? "

This accusation is very painful to her, and she tries to
persuade us by all kinds of insufficient reasons that we are
wrong. She denies the whole thing, and I am obliged to
admit that she does not remember getting up or even having
conversed w^Uh us (it was just another somnambulistic state).

I take a little table, and direct Eusapia to put her hands
on iL

" Very well," says she, ** John will tell you that I don*t
lie."

I then ask the following questions :

" Is it you, John, who came into our sleeping chamber
last night ? "

" No."

" Was it the chambermaid ? " (1 suggest this idea for
the express purpose of testing John's veracity.)

" No," says he.

"Was it the medium herself?"

" Yes," says the table. — ** No, it is not true, " exclaims
Eusapia, seeing her hope banished — " Yes," replies the table,
forcibly.

" Was she in the trance state ? "

" No."

" In her normal state ? "

" No."

" In a spontaneous somnambulistic state ? '*

" Yes."

" For what purpose ? "

'' She was hunting matches; for she was frightened in her
sleep, and didn't want to sleep without light,"

Sure enough, there were always matches in the drawer
opened by Eusapia, except on this particular night. She
therefore returned without getting any.

While listening to the explanation of the table, Eusapia
shrugged her shoulders, but protested no longer.

170 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Here, then, is a woman who, from time to time, has the
power of passing from one psychical state to another. la it
just to accuse such a creature of premeditated fraud, with-*
out the slightest medical and psychological examination,
without the least attempt at verification ? . • •

M. Ochorowicz adds here that, so far as he is concerned^
the phenomena are not produced by a personality different
from that of the medium, nor by a new independent occult
force; but it is a special psychic condition which permits
the vital dynamism of the medium (the astral body of the
occultists) to act at a distance, under certain exceptional
conditions. It is the only hypothesis which seems necessary
in the actual estate of our knowledge.

Why does the medium so often try to release her hand ?
So far as the Cambridge experimenters are concerned, the'
cause is very simple and always the same: she releases her
hand in order to indulge in tricks. As a matter of fact,
the reasons why she frees her hand are many and compli-
cated.

Dr. Ochorowicz's explanations are as follows:

1. Let me observe, in the first place, that Eusapia fre-
quently releases her hand for no other reason than to touch
her head, which is in pain at the moment of the manifesta-
tions. It is a natural refiex movement; and, in her case, it
is a fixed habit. Since, more often than not, she does not
notice that she is doing it, or at least fails to give warning
to her controller, the darkness justifies suspicions.

2. Immediately before the* mediumistic doubling of her
personality, her hand is affected with hyperasthesia and,
consequently, the pressure of the hand of another makes
her ill, especially in the dorsal quarter. She then most
frequently places the hand which is to be mediumistically
active above and not below that of the controller, trying to
touch it as little as possible. When the doubling of the
personality is complete, and the dynamic hand more or less

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 171

mateiialixedy that of the medium contracts and rests heavily
upon the controller, exactly at the moment that the phenome-
non takes place. She is then ahnost insensible and all
shnmken together. In very good mediumistic conditions
the doubling is easy and the initial hyperesthesia of short
duration. In this case the medium allows her hand to be
completely covered and the feet of the controllers to be upon
hers, as was always the case in our seances at Rome in 1893 ;
but, since that time, she can no longer endure that position,
and rather prefers to be held by hands under the table.

3. In accordance with psychological laws, the hand al-
ways proceeds automatically in the direction of our thoughts
(Cumberlandism). The medium acts by auto-suggestion,
and the order to go as far as an indicated point is given by
her brain simultaneously to the dynamic hand and the cor-
poreal hand, since in the normal state they form only oue;
And since, immediately after the hypersesthesia, the muscu
lar sensation is excited and the hand grows benumbed, ii
sometimes happens (especially when the medium proceeds
carelessly and does not properly govern her movements)
that the dynamic hand remains in place, while her own hand
goes in the indicated direction. The former, not being yet
materialized, produces only a semblance of pressure; and
another person, able to see a little in the darkness, will per-
ceive nothing of it, and will even be able to ascertain by
touch the absence of the medium's hand from that of th<
controller. At the same time the hand of the medium is
going in the direction of the object ; and still it may happen
that it does not really reach it, acting, as it does, at a dis-
tance, by a dynamic prolongation.

It is in this way that I explain the cases in which tha
hand, being released, has not yet been able to reach the
point aimed at (physically inaccessible), as well as the
numerous experiments made at Varsovie in full light, with
a little bell hung in different ways, with compasses of dif-
ferent forms, with a very small table, etc., — experiments in
which Eusapia's fingers were quite near, but did not touch,
the object. I proved that there was no electric force at work
in these cases, but that things occurred as if the arms of
the medium were lengthened and acted invisibly, but me-

172 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

chanically. At Varsovie, when one of my friends M*
Glowacki, took it into his head ^'that it was necessary to
give the medium free rein, in order to discover her method/'
we had an entirely fraudulent stance and lost our time to no
purpose. On the contrary, in a poor seance at File Bou-
baud, we obtained some good phenomena after having
frankly told the medium that she was cheating.

And here are the conclusions of the author upon ^^the
Cambridge frauds":

1. Not only was conscious fraud not proved on Eusapia
at Cambridge, but not the slightest effort was made to do so.

2. Unconscious fraud was proved in much larger propor-
tions than in all the preceding experiments.

3. This negative result is vindicated by a blundering
method little in accordance with the nature of the phe-
nomena.

Such is also the opinion of Dr. J. Maxwell, and of all
who are competent judges of the question.

To sum up, we see that the influence of preconceived
ideas, opinions, and sentiments, upon the production of phe-
nomena, is certain. When all the experimenters have nearly
the same sympathetic inclination for this kind of research,
and when they have decided to exercise suflScient " control "
(that is, watchful oversight) not to be the dupe of any mys-
tification, and agree among themselves to accept the regret-
table conditions of darkness necessary to the activity of
these unknown radiations, and not to trouble in any way
the apparent exigencies of the medium, then the resulting
phenomena attain an extraordinary degree of intensity.*

* I will add, for the benefit of those who wish to try some of these
psychic experiments, that the best conditions for success are to have
a homogeneous, impartial, and sincere group, free from every precon-
ceived idea, and not exceeding five or six persons in number. It is
absurd to object that, in order to obtain the phenomena, one must
have faith. But, while positive belief is not necessary, it is yet ad-
visable not to exercise any hostile influence during a s4ance»

OTHEK sfANCES WITH EUSAPIA 173
But if discord reigns, if one or more of the company
persistontl; ap; upon the acts of the mediam, with the con-
victioD that be or she must be cheating the results are very
much like the progrefls of a sailing vessel impelled hy aev-
eral contrary winds. The medium simply marks time
without advancing; and little but sterile resulta are secured.
Psychic forces are no leas real than physical or chemical or
mechanical forces. In spite of the desire that we may have
to convince prejudiced sceptics, it is advisable to invite only
one of them at a time, and to place him next to the mediiwi,
in order that be may be at onoe astonished, shaken, and con-
vinced. But in general this is not worth the trouble.

In the month of September, 1895, a new series of ex-
periments was made at I'Agnelas, in the residence of Colonel
de Bochas, president of the polytechnic school, with the as-
sistance of Dr. Bariex, editor of the Atmalea des sciences
psychiques. Count de Gramont (doctor of science), Dr. J.
Maxwell, deputy of the attorney-general at the Court of Ap-
peals in Limoges, Profeeftor Sabatier, of the faculty of sci-
ences at Montpellier, and Baron de Watteville, a licentiate
in science. They confirmed all the preceding details.*

A similar series was held in September, 1896, at Tre-
mezzo, in the rooms of the Blech family, then in summer
residence at Lake Como ; again at Auteuit, at the home of M.
Marcel Mangin, with MM. Sully-Frudhomme, Dr. Dariez,
Emile Desbeaux, A. Guerronnan, and Mme. Boisseaux also
participating. Let us stop for a moment to glance at this
last s^nce.

* A Teiy curioui experiment made with ft letter-weigher took place at
I'Agn^H. In responee to an impromptu auggeatlon made by M. d«
GramoDt, Easapia coiueDtea to tiy whether, by making vertical paaaaa
with her bands on each side of the trny of the letter- weigher (going
an high as fiftv grams), she could not lower it. Bbe lueceeded in
doing ao several timen in nurceuian, in the prnence of five obaervera
placed about her, who testified that she did not have in her flngwa
either thread or hair to presa upon tha tray.

174 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

I will first mention the photograph of the table sna-
pended in the air, a levitation which did not leave any
doubt in the mind of the experimenters^ any more than it
does in that of the observer who examines with atten-
tion this photograph (PL IX). The table descended slowly
and the succession of images was registered by the photo-
graph (same plate. Cut B). The following is an extract
from the report by M. de Rochas upon this s&uioe and the
succeeding one :

September HI. — The table rises off its four feet M.
Guerronnan has time to take a photograph of it, but be
fears that it may not be good. We b^ Eusapia to begin
again. She consents with good grace. The table is again
lifted off its four feet M. Mangin notifies M. Guerronnan
who, from his post, could not see, and the table remains in
tlie air until he has had time to take a picture of it (from
three to four seconds at the most). The dazzling magne-
sium light enables us all to verify the reality of the phe-
nomenon.

The curtain, hung in the comer of the room, suddenly
blows out and covers my head. Then I feel in succession
three pressures of a hand upon my head, the pressures grow-
ing stronger and stronger. I feel fingers which press as
those of M. Sully-Prudhomme, my neighbor on the right,
might do. I hold his left hand as a part of the chain of
hands.

It is a hand, it is fingers, which have just pressed upon
me so; but whose? I have continually had Eusapia's right
hand upon my left hand, which she seized and tightly held
at the moment of the production of the phenomenon.
• • •

I throw back the curtain, which has remained upon my
head, and wc sit waiting. " Meno luce " (" less light ")
asks Eusapia. The lamp is turned down more, and the re-
maining light shut off by a screen.

Facing me there is a window with closed outside shut-
ters, but through which filters the light of the street. In

OTHER SEANCES WITH EUSAPIA 175

the silence, my attention is caught by the appearance of a
handy the small hand of a woman. I can see it, owing to
the feeble light coming from the window.

It is not the shadow of a hand: it is a hand of flesh (I
do not add " and of bone," for I have the impression that
it has no bones). This hand opens and closes three times,
sufficiently long to permit me to say :

" Whose hand is this ? — yours, Monsieur Mangin ? "

'' No."

" Then it is a materialization ? "

" Undoubtedly : if you hold the mediiun^s right hand, I
hold the other."

I had the right hand of Eusapia on my left hand, and
her fingers were interlaced with mine.

Now the hand which I saw was a right hand, stretched
out and presented in profile. It remained for a moment
motionless in the air, at about from twenty-four to twenty-
eight inches above the table and thirty-six inches from Eu-
sapia. As its inunobility (I suppose) was the cause of my
not seeing it, it therefore opened and closed: it was these
movements which attracted my attention.

My favorable position in respect to the window, unfor-
tunately permitted me alone to see this mysterious hand ; but
M. Mangin saw, at two separate times, not a hand, but the
shadow of a hand outlined in profile upon the opposite
window.

Eusapia turns her head in the direction of the curtain,
behind which there is a leather-covered easy-chair, and, dis-
placing the curtain, this chair comes and leans against me.

She takes mv left hand, lifts it above the table the whole
length of her right arm, and makes the feint of rapping in
the air: the echo of three blows is heard on the table.

A little bell is placed before her. She stretches out her
two hands to the right and the left of the bell at a distance
of from three to four inches ; then she draws back her hands
toward her body, and, lo and behold ! the bell comes gliding
along over the table until it bumps against something and
falls over. Eusapia repeats the experiment several times.
You would think that her hands were invisibly prolonged ;
and that seems to me to justify the term " ectenic force,"

176 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

which Professor Thury, of Geneva, gave in the year 1855 to
this unknown energy.

I was just asking if she did not perchance have some in-
visible thread between her fingers, when suddenly, an irre-
sistible itching made her put her left hand to her nose ; her
right had remained upon the table near the bell; the two
hands at this moment were about two feet apart I ob-
served carefully. Eusapia rested her left hand upon the
table, some inches from the bell, and this was again set in
motion. Considering the gesture made by her, it would
have been necessary, in order to perform this feat, to have a
wonderfully elastic thread, absolutely invisible; for our
eyes were, so to speak, upon the bell, and the light was
abundant. My eyes were only a foot distant from the bell,
at the utmost.

This was a certain and undeniable case, and Sully-Prud-
homme returned to his home with me as thoroughly con-
vinced as I am.

The poet of Solitudes and of Justice, wrote on his part, as
follows :

After a rather long wait, an architect's stool came march-
ing up all alone toward me. It grazed my left side, rose to
the height of the table, and succeeded in placing itself upon
it. As I lifted my hand, I felt it at once seized.

" Why do you take my hand ? " I asked of my neighbor.

" It was not I," said he.

While these phenomena were taking place, Eusapia seemed
to be suffering. It seemed as if out of her own physio-
logical fund or stock she were furnishing all the force re-
quired to put the objects in motion.

After the seance, while she was still very much prostrated,
we saw an easy-chair which was behind the curtain come
rolling up behind her, as if to say, " Hold on there ! you've
forgotten me ! "

My conviction is that I witnessed phenomena which
T cannot relate to any ordinary physical law. My impres-
sion is that fraud, in any case, is more than improbable, —
at least so far as concerns the displacement at a distance of

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 177

heavy articles of furniture arranged by my companions and
myself. That is all that I can say about it For my part,
I call " natural " that which is scientifically proved. So that
the word ^^ mysterious " means that which still astonishes
us because it cannot be explained. I believe that the sci-
entific spirit consists in verifying facts, in not denying a
priori any fact which is not in contradiction with known
laws, and in accepting none which has not been determined
by safe and verifiable conditions.

Seance of September 26. — A dark bust moves forward
upon the table, coming from where Eusapia sits; then an-
oUier, and still another. " They look like Chinese ghosts,"
says M. Mangin, with this difference, that I, who am
better placed, owing to the light from the window, am
able to perceive the dimensions of these singular images,
and above all their thickness. All these black busts are
busts of women, of life size; but, although vague, they do
not look like Eusapia. The last of them, of fine shape, is
that of a woman who seems young and pretty. These half-
lengths, which seem to emanate from the medium, glide
along between us; and, when they have gone as far as the
middle of the table or two-thirds of its length, they sink down
altogether (all of a piece, as it were), and vanish. This
rigidity makes me think of the reproductions, or fac-similes,
of a bust escaped from a sculptor's atelier, and I murmur,
" One would think he was looking at busts moulded in papier-
mache." Eusapia heard me. " No, not papier-mache," she
flays indignantly. She does not give any other explana-
tion, but says (this time in Italian), " In order to prove to
you that it is not the body of the medium, I am going to
show you a man with a beard. Attention ! " I do not see
anything, but Dr. Dariex feels his face rubbed against for
quite a while by a beard.

Xew experiments made at Genoa in 1901, at which Eurico
Morselli, professor of psychology at the University of Gen-
oa, was present, were reported by my learned friend the
astronomer Porro, successivelv director of the observatories
of Grenoa and Turin, to-day director of the national observa-

178 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

tory of the Argentine Republic at La Plata. Here are
some extracts from this report:*

Nearly ten years have passed since Eusapia Paladino
made her first appearance in the memorable seances at Milan
during the course of her mediumistic tours through Europe.
The object of shrewd investigations on the part of experi-
enced and learned observers; the butt of jokes, accusations,
sarcasms; exalted by certain fanatics as a personification of
supernatural powers and scoffed at by others as a mounte-
bank, — the humble haberdasher of Naples has made so much
stir in the world that she is herself bored and displeased
by it.

I had good proof of this when I took leave of her, after I
had listened with much curiosity to the anecdotes which she
related to me of her seances and of the well-known men with
whom she has been associated, — Ch. Richet^ Schiaparelli,
Lombroso, Flammarion, Sardou, Aksakof, et al. She then
very emphatically asked me not to speak in the journals of
her presence at Genoa and of the experiments in which she
should figure there. Happily, she has good reasons herself
for not reading the journals. f

Why was an astronomer chosen to give an account of the
experiments at Genoa? Because astronomers are occupied
with researches into the unknown.:|:

If a man absorbed in his own private studies and attached
to an austere and laborious manner of life, such as my ven-
erated master M. Schiaparelli, has not hesitated to defy the
irreverent jests of the comic journals, it behooves us to con-
clude that the bond bet\^een the science of the heavens and
that of the human soul is more intimate than appears. The
following is the most probable explanation. We have to do
in these studies with phenomena which are manifested under
wholly special and still undetermined conditions, in con-

* Published by C. de Vesxne in his Revue des Htudea psychiquea,
1901.

"Eusapia, as has been said, is unable either to read or write.

+ Arago. in 1846, with the " electric girl "; Flammarion, in 1861, with
Allan Kardec, then afterwards with different mediums; ZOlIner, in
1882, with Slade; Schiaparelli, in 1892 with Eusapia; Porro, in 1901,
with the same medium {Revue dea tHudea psychiquea).

OTHER SEANCES WITH EUSAPIA 170
formity with laws almost uoknown and, in any case, of
such a character that the will of the experimenter has but
little influence upon the unshackled, self-r^ulating, and
often adverse volilionfl which betray themselves at every mo-
ment in the study of these psychical marvels. Nobody ia
better prepared to study these things than an astronomer,
poasesaing, as be does, a scientific education precisely adapt-
ing bim to the investigation of such conditions. In fact,
bj the systematic observation of the movementa of the heav-
enly bodies, the astronomer contracts the habit of being a
vigilant and patient spectator of phenomena, without at-
tempting either to arrest or to accelerate their irresistible
development. In other words, the study of the stars be-
longs to the science of obaervalton rather than to that of ex-
periment.

Professor Porro then sets forth the actual state of the
question relating to mediumistic phenomena.

The explanation that everything is fraud, conscious or
unconscious [says he], is to-day almost entirely abandoned,
as mnoh so as that which supposes that all is hallucination.
In fact, neither one nor the other of these hypotheses is suf-
ficient to throw light upon the observed facts. The hypo-
thesis of unconscious automatic action ou the part of the
medium has not obtained any better fate; for the moat
rigorous controls have only proved that the medium finds it
impossible to excite a direct dynamic effect, Physio-psy-
choiogy has therefore been obliged, in these latter years, to
have recourse to a supreme hypothesis, by accepting the
theories of M. de Rochaa, against which they had heretofore
directed the fire of tlieir heaviest guus. It has become re-
signed to the admission that a medium whose limbe are held
motionless by a rigorous control may, under certain condi-
tions, project outside of herself, to a distance of several
yards, a force sufficient to produce certain phenomena of
movement in inanimate bodies.

The boldest partisans of this hypothesis go so far as to
accept the temporary creation of pseudo- human limbs, —
arms, legs, beads, — in the formation of which the eaergiea

180 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

of other persons present probably co-operate with those of the
medium. The theory is that as soon as the energizing power
of the medium is withdrawn these phantom dynamic limbs
at once dissolve and disappear.

For all that, we do not yet go so far as to admit the ex-
istence of free and independent beings who would be able to
exercise their powers only through the human organism;
and still less do we admit the existence of spirits who once
animated the forms of human beings. . . .

M. Porro openly declares that, for his part, he is neither
a materialist nor a Spiritualist: He says that he is not
ready to accept, a priori, either the negations of psycho-
physiology or the faith of Spiritualists.

He adds that the nine persons who were present with him
at the stances represented the greatest variety of opinions
on the subject, from the most firmly persuaded Spiritual-
ists to the most incorrigible sceptics. Moreover, his task
was not that of writing an official report, approved by all
the experimenters, but solely that of faithfully relating his
own impressions.

The following are the most important of these, selected
from his reports on the different seances :

I saw, and plainly saw, the rough deal table (a table a
yard long and nearly two feet wide and resting on four feet)
rise up several times from the floor and, without any con-
tact with visible objects, remain suspended in the air, sev-
eral inches above the floor, during the space of two, three,
and even four seconds.

This experiment was renewed in full light without the
hands of the medium and of the five persons who formed the
chain about the table touching the latter in any way. Eu-
sapia's hands were looked after by her neighbors, who con-
trolled also her legs and her feet in such a way that no part
of her body was able to exercise the least pressure for the
lifting or maintaining in the air of the rather heavy article
of furniture used in the experiments.

OTHER STANCES WITH ETTSAPIA 181

It wu under such absolutely truBtworthy oondititms aa
theae that I was able to see inflated a very thick piece of black
cloth and the red curtains wliieh were behind the medium,
and which served to close the embraaure of the window.
The casement was carefully closed, there waa no current of
sir in the room, and it is absurd to suppose that persons
were hidden in the embrasure of the window. I believe,
then, that I can affirm with the utmost confidence that o
force, analogous to that which had produced the levitation
of the table, was manifested in the curtains, inflated them,
shook them, and pushed them out in such a way that they
touched now one and now another of the company.

During the sitting an event took place which deserres to be
mentioned as a proof, or at least as an indication, of the
intelligent character of the force in question.

Being face to face with Mme. Paladino, at a point in the
table the most removed frcsn ber, I complained that I had
not been touched as had the four other persons who formed
the company. No sooner bad I said this than I saw the
heavy curtain sweep out and come and hit me in the face
with its lower edge, at the same time that I felt a light blow
upon the knuckles of my fingers, as if from a very fragile
and light piece of wood.

Xext a formidable blow, like the stroke of the fist of an
athlete, is struck in the middle of the table. The person
seated at the right of the medium feels that he is grasped in
the side; the <^air in which be was seated is taken away
and placed upon the table, from which it then returns to ite
place without having been touched by anybody. The ex-
perimenter in question, who has remained standing, is able
to take his seat in the chair again. The control of thia
phenomenon left nothing to desire.

The blows arc now redoubled, and are so terrific that it
seems as if they would split the table. We b^n to per-
crive hands lifting and inflating the curtains and advancing
Bo far aa to touch first one, then the other, of the company,
caressing them, pressing their hands, daintily pulling their
ears or clapping hands merrily in the air above their beads.

It seems to me very singular and perliaps intentional, — ■
thia contrast between the touches (sometimes nervous and

182 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

energetic, and again delicate and gentle, but always friendly)
and the deafening, violent, brutal blows struck upon the
table.

A single one of these fist-blows, planted in the back, would
suffice to break the vertebral column.

The hands that perform these feats are the strong and
brawny hands of a man, the daintier hands are those of a
woman, the very small hands those of children.

The darkness is rendered a little less dense, and at onoe
the chair of No. 6 (Professor Morselli), which had already
made a jump to one side, is slipped from under him, while
a hand is placed on his back and on his shoulder. The chair
gets up on the table, comes down again to the floor, and,
after different horizontal and vertical oscillations, soars up
and rests upon the head of the professor, who has remained
standing. It remains there for some minutes in a state of
very imstable equilibrium.

The loud blows and the delicate touches of hands, large
and small, succeed each other uninterruptedly in such a
way that, without our being able mathematically to prove
the simultaneousness of different phenomena, it is yet al-
most certain in several cases.

While our opportunities for obtaining so valuable a sub-
ject of demonstration increase, the simultaneity which
we ask for is at last granted; for the table raps, the bell
sounds, and the tambourine is carried tinkling over our
heads all about the room, rests for a moment on the table,
and then resumes its flight in the air. . . .

A bouquet of flowers, placed in a carafe on the larger
table, comes over onto ours, preceded by an agreeable per-
fimae. Stems of flowers are placed in the mouth of No. 5 ;
and No. 8 is hit by a rubber ball, which rebounds upon the
table. The carafe comes over to join the flowers on our
table ; it is then immediately lifted and put to the mouth of
the medium, and she is made to drink from it twice; be-
tween the two times it sinks down to the table and stands
there for a moment right side up. We distinctly hear the
swallowing of the water, after which Mme. Paladino asks
some one to wipe her mouth with a handkerchief. Finally,
the carafe returns to the large table.

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 183

But a transfer of a totally difFerent character ia effected
in the following way. I had complained several times that
niy position in the chain at a distance from the medium had
hindered me from being touched during the seance. Sud-
denly, I hear a uoiae on the wall of the room, followed by
the tinkling of the strings of the guitar, which vibrate as if
Bome one were trying to take down the instrument from the
wall OD which it hung. At last the effort succeeds, and the
guitar comes toward me in an oblique direction. I dis-
tinctly saw it come between me and No. 8, with a rapidity
which rendered the impact of it rather unpleasant. Not
being able at first to account to myself for this dim black ob-
ject which was driving at me, I slipped to one side (No. 8
waa seated at my left). Then the guitar, changing its route,
.itruck forcibly with its handle three blows upon my fore-
head (which remained a little bruised for two or three
days), after which it came to a rest with delicate precision
upon the table. It did not remain there very long before it
began to circle about the hall, with a rotation to the right,
quite high above our heads, and at great speed.

It is proper to remark that, in this rotation of the guitar,
the vibration of its own strings was added to the sound of
the tambourine struck sometimes on one side, sometimes on
the other, in the air; and the guitar, bulky as it was, never
once struck the central supporting electric-light rod, nor the
three gas lamps fixed on the walls of the chamber. When
we take into consideration the contracted dimensions of the
room, we see that it was very difficult to avoid these ob-
stacles, since the space remaining free was very limited.

The guitar took its flight twice around the room, coming
to a stand-still (between the two times) in the middle of
the table, where finally it came to a rest. In a final supreme
effort, Eusapia turns toward the left, where upon a table is
a typewriting machine weighing fifteen pounds. During
the effort the medium falls exhausted and nervous upon the
floor ; but the machine rises from its place and betakes itself
to the middle of our table, near the guitar.

In full light, Eusapia calls M, Morselli, and, controlled by
the two persons next her, brings him with her toward the
table, upon which ia placed a mass of modelling-plaater.

184 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

She takes his open hand and pushes it three times toward
the plaster, as if to sink the hand into it and leave upon it
an impression. M. Morselli's hand remains at a distance
of more than four inches from the mass : nevertheless, at the
end of the seance, the experimenters ascertain that the lump
of plaster contains the impression of three fingers, — deeper
prints than it is possible to obtain directly by means of
voluntary pressure.

The medium lifts her two hands, all the time clasped in
mine and in those of No. 5 (Morselli), and uttering groans,
cries, exhortations, she rises with her chair, so far as to
place its two feet and the ends of its two front cross-bars
upon the top of the table. It was a moment of great anx-
iety. The levitation was accomplished rapidly, but without
any jarring or jolting or jerking. In other words, if, in an
effort of extreme distrust you insisted on supposing that she
employed some artifice to obtain the result, you would rather
have to think of a pulling up, by means of a cord and pulley,
rather than of a pushing from beneath.

But neither of these hypotheses can stand the most ele-
mentary examination of the facts. . . .

There is more to follow. Eusapia was lifted up still
farther with her chair, from the upper part of the table,
in such a way that No. 11 on one side and I on the other
were able to pass our hands under her feet and under those
of the chair.

Moreover, the fact that the posterior feet of the chair were
entirely off of the table, without any visible support makes
this levitation still more irreconcilable with the supposition
that Eusapia could have made her body and the chair take
an upward leap.

M. Porro judges that this phenomenon is one of those
which are less easily explained if we decline to have re-
course to the Spiritualistic hypothesis. It is a little like the
man who fell into the water and thought he could pull him-
self out by his own hair.

Eusapia [adds M. Porro] descended without any jolting,
little by little. No. 5 and I never letting go her hands. The

OTHER sfANCES WITH ETISAPIA 185
chair, baring riseo up a little higher, turned over and placed
itself OD mj bead, whence it Bpontaneously returned to the
floor.

This thing waa tried again. Eiuapia and her cbtir vere
transported again to the top of the table, only, this time,
the result of the fatigue undergone by her was Buch that
the poor woman foil in a faint upon the table. We lifted
her down with all due care.

Tbe experimenters desired to know whether these phe-
nomena, the success of which depends in so great mcasun
upon the conditions of light, coiUd not have better success
In the white and quiet light of the moon.

They were obliged to admit that there was no appreciable
difference between the lunar light and other kinds. But
the table around which tliey bad formed tbe chain quitted
the veranda where the sitting was being held, and, in spite
of the strongly expressed winhca of the sitters and of the
medium herself, betook itself into the neighboring room,
■where the sitting then continued.

This room was a little salon crowded with elegant fumi-
ture and fragile objects, such as crystal chandeliers, porce-
lain vases, bric-^-brae, etc. The experimenters feared very
much that these things would suffer damage in the bustle of
tbe seance; but not the slightest object suffered any damage.

Mme. Paladino, who was now herself again, took the
band of Xo. 11 and placed it gently upon the hack of a chair,
at the same time placing her own hand upon his. Then, as
she lifted her hand and that of No. 11, the chair followed
the same ascending movement several times in succession.

This thing was repeated in full light.

No. 5, as well as other gentlemen, perceived, in a manner
that admitted of no doubt, a vague, indistinct figure thrown
upon the air in the doonvay of an- antechamber which was
feebly illuminated. The figure consisted of changing and
fugitive silhouettes, sometimes with the outline of a human
head and body, sometimes like hands reaching out from the
curtains. Their objective character was demonstrated by
the agreement of impressions, which were controlled in their
tnm by means of continual inquiries. There was no possi-
bility of their being shadows voluntarily or involimtarily

186 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

projected by the bodies of the experimenters, since we were
mutually watching each other.

The tenth seance (the last) was one of the best-attended,
and was perhaps the most interesting of all.

Scarcely has the electric light been extinguished when
we remark an automatic movement of the chair upon which
a lump of plaster has been placed, while the hands and feet
of Eusapia are watchfully controlled by me and by No. 3.
However, as we wish to forestall the objection of critics
that the phenomena take place in the dark, the table typto-
logically (that is, by taps) asks for light, and the experi-
menters light the electric lamp.

Presently, all the company see the chair on which the
lump of plaster lies (not at all a light chair) moving between
myself and the medium, without our being able to under-
stand the determining cause of the movement.

Mme. Paladino puts her outspread hand upon the back
of the chair and her left above it. When our hands rise up,
the chair rises also without contact, reaching a height of
about six inches. This performance is several times re-
peated, with the addition of the intervention of the hand of
No. 5, under conditions of light and of control which leave
nothing to be desired.

The room is again almost completely darkened. . . .
A current of cold air upon the table precedes the arrival of a
little branch with two green leaves. We know that there are
no plants in the neighborhood of the company: it appears
then that we have here a case of bringing-in from the out-
side.

No. 3 is greatly exhausted with the heat. And, lo! a
hand, which takes his handkerchief from his neck and with
it dries the perspiration on his face. He tries to seize the
handkerchief with his teeth, but it is snatched from him.
A big hand lifts his left hand and makes him rap several
strokes with it on the table.

Gleams of light begin to appear, at first on the right hand
of No. 5, then in different parts of the hall. They are per-
ceived by everybody.

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 187

The curtain is inflated, as if it were pushed against by a
strong windy and touches No. 11, who is seated in a small
easy-chair a yard and a half from the medium. The same
person is touched by a hand, while another hand pulls a fan
from the inside pocket of his jacket, carries it to No. 5 and
then to No. 11. The fan is soon returned to its owner, and
is moved to and fro above our heads, to the great satisfac-
tion of all of us. A tobacco pouch is taken from the pocket
of No. 3: the Invisible empties it on the table, and then
gives it to No. 10. Various stems of plants drop upon the
table.

Transfers of the fan from one hand to another begin
again. Then No. 11 believes that he ou^t to announce
that the fan had been offered to him by a young girl who had
expressed the wish that it be transferred to No. 11, then
given back to No. 5. Nobody knew about this except No. 11.

No. 5, who at present occupies the small arm-chair where
formerly No. 11 was seated, a yard and a half from the
medium, feels the edge of the curtain touching him and then
perceives the presence of the body of a woman whose hair
rests on his head.

The seance is adjourned about one o'clock.

At the moment of parting, Eusapia sees a bell on the
piano; she extends her hand; the bell glides along on the
piano, turns over, and falls on the floor. The experiment
is renewed, in full light as before, the hand of the medium
remaining several inches from the belL . . .

It is evident that these exploits are still more extraordi-
nary than the preceding ones, in certain respects. The fol-
lowing are the conclusions of the report of Professor Porro.

The phenomena are real. They cannot be explained
either by fraud or by hallucination. Do they find their ex-
planation in certain strata of the unconscious (the sub-
liminal), in some latent faculty of the human soul, or indeed
do they reveal the existence of other entities living under
conditions wholly different from ours and normally inac-
cessible to our senses? In other words, will the animistic
hypothesis suffice to solve the problem and to do away with

188 MYSTERIOUS PSTCHIC F0BGE8

the Spiritualiftic hjrpotheuBt Or, rather, do not the phe-
Bomeiia aenre here, as in the payeholog^ of dreanuy to ccmu-
plicate ibe problem by hiding the mixitnaliitie aolotifln
widiin themt It is to this MrmidaUe qaery that I am
going to attempt a reply.

When, eleven years ago, Alexander Aksakof stated the
dilemma between Animism and Spiritism, and in H masterlly
work clearly proved that purely animistic manifestations
were inseparable from those which direct our thovtg^ts to
a belief in the existence of independent, inteUigent, and
active entities, no one could have expected that the first
term of the dilemma would be disputed and eriticifled in a
thousand ways, under a thousand varying forms, by per-
sons who would be dismayed at thfi second term*

In fact, what are all the hypotheses which for ten years
now have been invented in order to reduce mediumistic phe-
nomena to the simple manifestation of qualities latent in the
hiunan psyche (or soul)^ if not different forms of the ani-
mistic hypothesis, so jeered at when it appeared in the work
of Aksakof ?

From the idea of the unconscious muscular action of the
spectators (put forth half a century ago by Faraday) to
the projection of protoplasmic activity or to the temporary
emanation from the body of the medium imagined by Lodge ;
from the psychiatric doctrine of Lombroso to the psydho-
physiology of Ocborowicz ; from the extemalization admitted
by Rochas to the eso-psychism of Morselli; from the auto-
matism of Pierre Janet to the duplication of personality of
Alfred Binet, — there was a perfect flood of explanations,
having for their end the elimination of an exterior per-
sonality.

The process was logical and in agreement with the prin-
ciples of scientific philosophy, which instructs us to exhaust
the possibilities of what is already known before having re-
course to the unknown.

But this principle, unassailable in theory, may lead to
erroneous results when it is wilfully stretched too far into
a given field of research. Vallati has cited, in this connec-
tion, a curious marginal note of Galileo, recently published
in the third volume of the national edition of his works:

OTHER SEANCES WITH EUSAPIA 189

'^ If we heat amber, the diamond, and certain other very
dense eubetances by chafing them, they attract small light
bodies, because, in cooling off, they attract the air, which
draws these corpuscles along with if Thus the desire
to bring still unexplained material facts under the known
physical laws of his day led an observer and thinker so
prudent and practical as Galileo to formulate a false propo-
sition. If anybody had said to him that in the attraction
exercised by amber there was the germ of a new branch of
science and the rudimentary manifestation of an energy
(electricity) then unknown, he would have replied that it
was useless to " have recourse to the aid of the unknown/'

But the analogy between the error committed by the great
physicist and that which modern scholars commit can be
pushed still farther.

Galileo was familiar with a form of energy which the
natural philosophy of our times investigates simultaneously
with electric energy, with which it has close relations con-
firmed by all recent discoveries. If it had been perceived
that the explanation which he gave of the phenomenon of
amber had no foundation, he would have been able to give
his attention to the analogies which the attraction exercised
by amber rubbed over light bodies presents with the attrac-
tion exercised by the loadstone upon iron filings. When
he had got so far, he would very probably have discarded
his first hypothesis and would have admitted that the attrac-
tive power of amber is a magnetic phenomenon. He would
have been deceived, however, for it is an electric phenome-
non.

In the same way might not those persons deceive them-
selves who, in order to escape at any cost the necessity of
the hypothesis of spiritistic entities, should insist with a
too persistent predilection upon the animistic hypothesis,
even when this would be found insuflScient to explain all
mediumistic manifestations? Might it not be true that,
like electric and magnetic phenomena, which are in close
interchangeable connection, and frequently appear to us in-
separable, animistic and spiritistic phenomena have a com-
mon bond? And let us well note that a single fact, inex-
plicable by the animistic hypothesis and explicable by the

190 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

spiritistic hypothesis, would suffice to confer upon the latter
that degree of scientific value which up to the present time
has heen so energetically denied to it, just as the discovery
. of a secondary phenomenon, that of the polarization of light,
sufficed to make Fjresnel reject the Newtonian theory of
emission and admit that of imdulation.

Did we obtain, during the course of our ten seances with
Eusapia, the one fact which is enough to make the spirit-
istic hypothesis necessarily take precedence of all others?

It is impossible to reply categorically to this question be-
cause it is not possible, and never will be, to have a scientific
proof of the identity of the beings who manifest themselves.

The fact that I bear, that I see, that I touch a phantom ;
that I recognize in it the form and the attitude of persons
whom I have known and whom the mediimi has neither
known nor of whom she has even heard the names; that I
have the most lively and affecting testimony to the presence of
this ephemeral apparition, — all that will not be sufficient to
constitute the scientific fact which none can refute, and
which shall be worthy to remain in the annals of science
along with the experiments of Torricelli, Archimedes and
Galvani. It will always be possible to imagine an unknown
mechanism by the aid of which elemental substance and
power may be drawn from the mediimi and the sitters and
combined in such a way as to produce the indicated effects.
It will always be possible to find in the special aptitudes of
the medium, in the thought of the sitters, and even in their
attitude of expectant attention, the cause of the human
origin of the phenomena. It will always be possible to un-
earth from the arsenal of the attacks made upon these studies
during the last fifty years, some generic or specific argument,
either ad rem or ad hominem, while ignoring or feigning to
ignore the refutation of the argument which has already been
made.

The question, then, reduces itself at once to an individual
study of cases either directly observed or obtained from some
sure hand, in order on the one hand, to create a personal con-
viction capable of resisting the scathing ridicule of the scep-
tics, and, on the other hand, to prepare public opinion to

OTHER siiNCES WITH EUSAPIA 191

admit the truth of cases observed by persons worthy of cre-
dence.

With r^ard to the first of these^ the illustrious experi-
menter Si4gyricky has already said that no fact or case exists
capable of convincing everybody, but that each one^ by
patiently and calmly observing^ may find such fact or case as
will suffice to establish his own conviction. I may say that
for myself such a case exists. I need only refer to the
phenomena in which I have personally participated in the
seances with Eusapia.

With regard to the second point I could say much, but
that would lead me beyond the subject matter and the limits
of this study.

On the one hand, we have the universal belief in the ob-
jective existence of a world unknown to us in our normal
state; that faith (the basis of all religions) in a future life
where the injustices of this one will be atoned for and where
we shall be confronted with the good or evil deeds that we
have done on earth; that uninterrupted tradition of sys-
tematic or spontaneous observances and rituals, thanks to
which man is constantly kept in relation more or less with
that unknown world.

On the other hand, we have the sceptical and disheartening
negation of systems of pessimistic philosophy and of atheism,
a negation which takes its rise in the absence of positive
proofs of the survival of the soul ; the ever more a!id more
marked tendency of science toward a monistic interpretation
of the enigma of human life; and the belief that all the
known phenomena of life appear only in connection with
special organs.

In order to decide in so abstruse a matter as this, medium-
istic experiments do not suffice; everyone may draw from
these as much of credence or of incredulity as he may need
in order to resolve his doubts in one way or another; but he
will never divest himself of the substratum of temperamental
tendencies which the more or less scientific education of his
mind or the more or less mystical inclinations of his nature
shall have developed in him.

One word more and I have done.

While admitting it as the most probable hypothesis that

192 MYSTEEIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the intelligent beings to whom we owe these psychical phe-
nomena are pre-existing^ independent entities, and that they
only derive from us the conditions necessary for their mani-
festation in a physical plane accessible to our senses, ought
we to admit also that they are really the spirits of the dead ?

To this question I will reply that I do not feel that I am
as yet capable of giving a decisive answer.

Still I should be inclined to admit it, if I did not see the
possibility that these phenomena might form part of a scheme
of things still more vast. In fact, nothing hinders us from
believing in the existence of forms of life wholly different
from those which we know, and of which the life of human
beings before birth and after death forms only a special case,
just as the organic life of man is a special case of animal
life in general.

But I am leaving the solid ground of facts to explore that
of the most hazardous hypotheses. I have already spoken at
too great length, and will therefore close the discussion of
this particular topic.

I have considered the above subjects in several of my
own works.*

We are surrounded by unknown forces and there is no
proof that we are not also surrounded by invisible beings.
Our senses teach us nothing about reality. But logically
the discussion of theories ought to be reserved as a comple-
ment to the ensemble or summary of our observations and
experiments ; that is to say, for the last chapter. It behooves
us before everything else positively to ascertain that medium-
istic phenomena exist.

It seems to me, that this has been done for every impar-
tial reader. This will be overwhelmingly confirmed by the
following chapters. But there is one point on which we
ought to dwell a moment. I mean the question of fraud,
conscious or unconscious, which it would be natural, but

♦ Notably in tZrontc, in Btella, in Lumen, in Ulncownu, See also
above, p. 30 in my Oration at the Grave of Allen Kardec.

OTHER STANCES WITH EUSAPIA 198

unfair^ to here ignore and cover up. Our judicial review
would not be complete did we not consecrate a special chap-
ter to these mystifications^ which unhappily are too fre-
quently employed by mediums.

CHAPTER V.

FRAUDS, TRICKS, DECEPTIONS, IMPOSTURES, FEATS OF LEQEB-
DEMAIN, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS

Several times in the preceding chapters the question has
come up of fraud in the mediums. I am sorry to say that
experimenters must be constantly on their guard against
them. It is this which has discouraged certain eminent
men and prevented them from continuing their researches,
for their time is too precious to waste. This may be es-
pecially noticed in the letter of M. Schiaparelli above (p.
64) whom Spiritualists keep citing (wrongly) as among the
number of their partisans. But he absolutely refuses to
be identified with them. He accepts no theory; he is not
even sure of the actual existence of the facts, and has de-
clined to give the time needed for their authentication.

I shall take occasion in the second volume of The Un-
known to treat of Spiritualism (properly so called), of the
doctrine of the plurality of worlds, of the plurality of exist-
ences, of re-incamation, of pre-existence, and of communica-
tions with the departed, — subjects independent of the ma-
terial phenomena to a discussion of which the present work
is devoted. To these subjects the physical manifestations
only contribute in an indirect manner. As we have already
several times said in the preceding pages, we are only con-
cerned here to prove the actual existence of these extraordi-
nary phenomena. The establishing of the proof depends
above all upon the elimination of fraud.

In the case of Eusapia (the medium most thoroughly ex-

194

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 195
amined in the present volume) fraud, unhappily, has been
only too veil establiahed in more than one instance.

But a very important remark muat here be made. All
physiologists know that hysterical persons have a tendency
to falsehood and eimnlatioo. They lie, apparently without
reason, and solely for the pleasure of lying. There are
hysterica among the women and young girls of the higher
clasaes.

Does this characteristic defect prove that hysteria does
not exist t It proves just the contrary.

Consequently, tfaoee who think that the frauds of the
mediums give the death blow to mediumsbtp are deceived.
Mediumship exists, as well as hysteria, as well as bypoot-
ism, aa well as somnambulism. Trickery also exists.

I will not say, with (»rtain theologians, " There are fdUe
prophets, therefore there are true ones," for that is a soph-
ism of the worst kind. The existence of the false does not
hinder the existence of the true.

I knew a kleptomaniac, who got herself arrested more
than once in the great shops of Paris for stealing various
articles. That does not prove that sfae never bought any-
thing, and only obtained by theft all the articles she needed.
On the contrary, the objects stolen must have represented
but a small part of the materials of her toilet. But the fact
that she stole is incontestable. In the experiments which
we are considering in these pages, deception is a co-efficient
which cannot be neglected.

It is my duty to point out here some examples of this
failing. Before doing so, I ought to recall the fact that for
a period of forty years I have examined all the mediums
whose achievements have had the widest celebrity, — includ-
ing Daniel D. Home, gifted with the most astounding pow-
ers, who, gave at the Tuileriea, before the Emperor Na-
poleon IIIj his family, and his friends, such extraordinary

196 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

seances, and who was later employed by William Crookes
in the accurate scientific researches made by that gentleman ;
Mme. Rodiere, a remarkable typtologic medium; C. Brfidif,
who produced strange apparitions; Eglington, with the en-
chanted slates ; Henry Slade, who made with the astronomer
ZoUner those incredible experiments from which geometry
only saved itself by admitting the possibility of a fourth
dimension of space; Buguet whose photographic plates
caught and held the shadows of the dead, and who, having
allowed me to experiment with him, let me conduct my re-
searches for five weeks before I detected his fraudulent
methods and mechanisms; Lacroix, to whom spirits of all
ages seemed to troop in crowds; and many others who in-
spire deep interest in Spiritualists and scientific investi-
gators by manifestations more or less strange and marvelous.
I have quite often been absolutely deceived. When I
took the precautions that were necessary to put the medium
beyond the possibility of trickery, I obtained no result ; if I
pretended not to see anything I would perceive out of the
comer of my eye attempts at deceit. And, in general, the
phenomena which took place happened only in the moments
of distraction in which my attention was for an instant
relaxed. While I was pushing my investigation a little
farther, I saw with my own eyes Buguet's prepared nega-
tives; saw with my own eyes Slade writing under the table
upon a concealed slate, and so forth. Apropos of this fa-
mous medium Slade, I may recall the fact that after his
experiments with Zollner, director of the observatory at
Leipzig, he came to Paris, and for the purpose of experi'
mentation, placed himself at my disposal (and that of all
the astronomers at the Observatory to whom I should intro-
duce him). He said he got direct writings from the spirits
by a bit of pencil placed between two slates tied together,
by oscillations of the magnetic needle, displacements of fur-

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 197
niture, the automatic tbrowiu^ about of objects, and the
like. He was very willing to give me one stance a week,
for six weeks (on Monday at 11 o'clock A. M., at 21 Beau-
jon Street). But I obtained nothing certain. In the cases
that did succeed, there was a possible substitution of slates.
Tired of so much loss of time, I agreed with Admiral
Moucbez, director of the Observatory of Paris, to confide
to Slade a double slate prepared bj ourselves, with the pre-
cautions which were necesBary in order that we shoold not
be entrapped. The two slates were sealed in such a way
-u'ith paper of the Obserratorj that if he took them apart
be could not conceal the fraud. He accepted the conditions
of the experiment. I carried the slates to his apartment.
They remained under the influence of the medium, in this
apartment, not a quarter of an hour, not a half-hour or an
hour, but ten consecutive days, and when be sent them back
to us there was not the least trace of writing inside ; and yet
specimens of this were always furnished by him when he
Lad the opportunity of transposing slates prepared in ad-
vance.*

Without entering into other details, let it sufiBce me to
say, that, too frequently deceived by dishonest and menda-
cious mediums, I brought to my experiments with Eusapia
a mental reserve of scepticism, of doubt, and of suspicion.

The conditions of experimenting are in general so crooked
that it is easy to be duped. And scientists and scholars are
perhaps most easily duped of all men, because scientific
observation of experiments is always honest, since we are
not obliged to distrust nature, — when the question is of a
star or of a molecule, — and since we have the habit of de-
scribing facts as they present themselves to our intelligence.

* 81*de waa Benteni»d to three month* of hard labor, io London, for
■windling. He died in a privaU hoapital, in the State at Uicbigan, in
fieptembcr, 190S.

198 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

That granted, we may now look at certain curious doings
of Eusapia.

We considered a little farther back (p. 173) CoL de
Rochas's strange experiment with the letter-weigher. This
was considered by the experimenters as absolutely conclu-
sive. I was curious to verify it. Here are my notes on
the matter.

November 12, 1898. — This afternoon we took ^ drive in
a landau (Eusapia and I) in company with M. and Mme.
Pallotti of Cairo, and, among other things, we visited the
exhibition of chrysanthemums at the Tuileries. Eusapia is
enchanted. We return about 6 o'clock. My wife seats her-
self at the piano, and Eusapia sings some Neapolitan airs
and some little fragments of Italian operas. Afterwards
we all three chat confidentially with each other.

She is in a very happy state of mind, tells us how some-
times on stormy days she experiences electric cracklings and
sparkling in her hair, especially on an old wound that she
once received on the head. She also tells us that when she
has been a long time without holding a seance she is in a
state of irritation, and feels the need of freeing herself of
the psychic fluid which saturates her. This avowal aston-
ishes me, for, at the end of every seance, she seems rather^ to
be listless and melancholy and seems to hold a sitting rather
unwillingly than otherwise. She adds that she frequently
has fluidic prolongations of the ends of her fingers, and, put-
ting her two hands on my knees, the inside of the hand
turned upward, at the same time spreading out the fingers
and placing them opposite each other face to face, at a dis-
tance of several inches, and alternately bringing the hands
together and withdrawing them, she tells us to observe from
time to time the radiations which prolong the fingers by
forming a sort of luminous aureole at their extremities. My
wife thinks she perceives some of them. I am unable to see
anything at all, in spite of all my efforts, although I change
the light and shade in all sorts of ways. The salon is lighted
at this time by two intense Auer burners. We go into the

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 199
bedroom, lighted only by cftndlea, and I cannot see them any
better. I snufF ont the candles, on the supposition that this
is perhaps a case of phosphorescence ; but I never perceive
anything. We return to the salon. Eusapia spreads a black
woollen shawl over her silk skirt and shows me the luminous
effluence. But all the time I can see nothing, unless it be for
a moment a kind of pale ray at the end of the index finger
of her right-hand.

The dinner hour approaches. It is seven o'clock. A let-
ter-weigher (PI. X), which I had bought to renew the curi-
ous experiment of M. de Hochas, is upon the table. I ask
Eusapia if she remembers having made a piece of mechanism
like this move downward on its spring by placing her hands
on each side of it, at a distance, and making something like
magnetic passes. She doesn't seem to remember anything
about it and hums a little stanza from Santa Lucia. I beg
that she will try it. She does so. Nothing moves. She
a-4k9 mc to place my bands on hers. We make the same
passes, and, to my amazement (for I really was not expecting
it at all) the little tray sinks do^vn to the point where it
touches the lever and produces the sharp sound of contact.
This point is beyond the graduation of the scale, which stops
at fifty grams, and may go to sixty, and represents seventy
grama at the lowest. The tray immediately rises again.
We begin a second time. Nothing. A third time: the same
lowpring and the same return to equilibrium. Then I beg
lier to try the espc'rimnnt alonp. She rubs her hands to-
gether and makes the same passes. The letter weigher goes
down to the same maximum point. We are all standing
close by her, in the full light of the Auer burners. The
same performance is repeated, the tray remaining down for
an interval of about five minutes. The movement does not
take place at once; there are sometimes three or four trials
without success, as if the force were exhausted by the result.
The tray had already sunk down four times before our eyes,
always as far as the maximum point, when the valet de
cliambre, passing by upon some matter of service, I tell
him to stop and look, Eusapia begins again and does not
succeed. She waits a moment, rubs her hands, begins again,
and the same movement without contact is produced for the

200 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Bevcntb time, before the three witnesses, each as much as-
tonished as the other. Her hands are sensibly chilled. I
think of the trick of the hair^ pass my hands between both
of hers and find nothing there ; I did not see anything. Be-
sides, she does not seem to have touched her head^ and her
hands have remained before us since the commencement of
the experiment, free and untouched.

On the supposition that there may be here some electric
force in operation, I beg her to place her fingers upon an ex-
tremely sensitive compass. In whatever way she grasps this,
it refuses to move.

We sit down to the dinner-table. I ask her to lift a fork
as she had done at Montfort. At the third trial she suc-
ceeds — and without the use of a hair, at least any that was
apparent.

II.

November 16. — In order to entertain Eusapia, Adolphe
Brisson yesterday evening offered her a box at the Folies-
Bergere, where Loie Fuller was giving her magnificent spec-
tacular exhibitions. We went there with her. She returned
enchanted, is to-day very gay and very animated, speaks of
her candid and loyal character and blames the comedies
of fashionable life. During dinner she tells us a part of the
story of her life.

Nine o'clock. — M. and Mme. Levy and M. G. Mathieu
have just arrived.

We are conversing. Placing her hands on a leg of M.
Mathieu in the darkness she shows him the radiations ema-
nating from her fingers, which are however scarcely apparent
to us.

It was after having shown me these radiations, the other
day, that the experiment of the letter-weigher took place.
She associates the two phenomena, and undertakes to try the
latter again.

She asks me to give her a little water. I go to the dining-
room in search of a carafe and a glass. During my absence,
M. Mathieu remarks that, while my wife is talking with M.
and Mine. Levy, Eusapia reaches her hand to her head and
makes a little gesture as if she were pulling out a hair.

ILf"

FRAUDS, MYSTinCATIOXS, IMPEDIMENTS 201

I return with a glass and a carafe and pour out for her
as much as she wishes. She drinks a quarter of a glass of
water. At my request, she moves her hands downward on
each side of the letter-weigher in the same way as day before
yesterday, and after two or tliree passes the tray sinks, not
to its full length as day before yesterday, but to the mark
of thirty-five or forty grams.

The experiment was tried a second time and succeeded
in the same way.

Under pretext of going in search of a photographic camera
M. Mathieu draws me into another room and shows me a
long, very fine hair which fell into his hand after the ex-
periment, at the moment when Eusapia was making a gesture
as if she were going to shake his hand.

This hair is of a rich chestnut tint (the color of Eusapia's
hair) and measures fourteen inches in length. / have pre-
served it.

This took place at quarter past nine. The sitting begins
at 9:30 and finishes at 11:30. After the sitting, Eusapia
asks me for another glass of water, and shows me a little hair
between her fingers.

Just as she is going, at midnight, half laughingly, half
seriously, she pulls a hair from the front part of her head
and, taking the hand of my wife, puts this hair in it and
closes the hand while looking her in the eye. She certainly
noticed that we had perceived fraud.

III.

Xovember 19. — Eusapia is a sly one. She is gifted with
great sharpness of sight and has unusually sensitive ears.
She is very intelligent and is a person of rare delicacy of
fooling. She perceives and divines everything which con-
cerns herself. Never reading, since she doesn't know how to
road; never writing, since she doesn't know how to write;
speaking little when here, since she rarely finds persons who
understand and speak Italian, she remains always concen-
trated in herself and nothing turns her from permanent
thought about her own personality. It would undoubtedly
be impossible to discover a similar state of mind in the
case of other persons ; for we, as they, are generally occupied

202 MYSTEKIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

with a thousand things which scatter our attention over many
different objects.

I arrive, at 11 :30, at the rooms of Dr. Bichet in order to
escort Eusapia to Mme. Fourton's, where we are to take
luncheon. She is cold and constrained. I pretend not to
notice it, and keep talking with the doctor. She goes to
put on her hat and we descend the stairs. At the foot of the
staircase she says, " What did M. Bichet say to you ? What
were you speaking of ? " A moment after, returning in
thought to our last seance, she says, " Were you completely
satisfied ? " In the carriage I take her hand and converse
with her in a friendly way. " Everything is going very
well," I say to her ; " but some experiments will still be
necessary in order to leave no room for doubt." Then I
speak to her of other things.

She becomes gradually sociable and her clouded brow
seems to clear up. However, she evidently feels that in
spite of my rather superficial amiability, I am not absolutely
the same to her. During the luncheon she holds out her
champagne glass to me and drinks my health. Mme. Fourton
is convinced of Ensapia's genuineness, beyond all manner of
doubt. During conversation, a little later, Eusapia says to
her, " I am sure of you, I am sure of Mme. Blech, of
M. Richet, of M. de Rochas; but I am not sure of M.
Flammarion."

" You are sure of Mme. Fourton," I replied. " Very
well. But think for a moment of the several thousand per-
sons who are waiting for my opinion in order to fix their
own. M. Chiaia told you this at Naples, M. de Bochas re-
peated it to you in Paris. You see I have a very great re-
sponsibility and you yourself certainly see that I cannot af-
firm that of which I am not absolutely certain. You ought
yourself loyally to aid me in obtaining that certainty."

" Yes," she replied, '^ I understand the difference very
well. However, if it had not been for you I should not have
made the journey from Naples, for the climate of Paris
does not agree with me very well. Oh, certainly; we must
have you convinced beyond the possibility of doubt."

She has now returned to her habitual intimacy. We took
her to the Museum at the Louvre, which she had not visited.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 203

then to a meeting with M. Jules Bois who was making sug-
gestion-experiments with Mme. Lina. Eusapia is yery
much interested in these. We speak of the jests and mimick-
ings of the comedians.

'In the evening, at dinner, the brilliant conversation of
Victorien Sardou, the repartees of CoL de Bochas, the ques-
tions (a little insidious) of Brisson, all interest her; but it
is evident that she never forgets herself. Thus, before din-
ner, she tells me that she has the headache, especially in the
neighborhood of her woimd, passes her hand through her
hair (" which hurts her*'), and asks me for a brush. " In
order," she says, that " in case of a s^nce experiment, a
stray hair shall not be found in the wrong place." And
she carefully brushes her shoulders. I do not always appear
to understand her. But there is no doubt that she under-
stands that we have — found a hair!

IV.

(more recent note, MAROH^ 1906.)

On Thursday, March 29, Eusapia, being in Paris, came
to see me. I had not seen her since her seances at my house
in Xovember, 1898. We kept her to dinner, and after dinner
I asked her to take part with me in some experiments.

I first asked her to place her hands upon the piano, think-
ing that perhaps some of its strings would vibrate. But
nothing happened.

I then induced her to place her hands on the covered key-
board. She asked that it be slightly opened by means of a
little block. I placed my hands upon it, by the side of hers.
My object was, by keeping up contact, to keep her from slip-
ping a finger over the keys. She kept trying to substitute
one hand for the two that I held, in such a way as to leave
one of them free, and a few notes sounded. Result of the
experiment, nil. We left the piano and went over to a
white-wood table. W^e got some insignificant balancings.

" Is there a spirit there ? "

" Yes " (indicated by three raps.)

" Does it wish to commimicate ? "

" Yes."

204 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

I pronounce slowly and in their proper order the letters
of the alphabet

Reply, "Tua matrCy'' ("thy mother.")

This certainly means " Tua madre." (note once more that
Eusapia does not know how to read or write.)

Eusapia noticed that I was in mourning and I had told
her that my mother had died on the first of last July. I
then asked to be told her name. (Eusapia does not know it)

No reply.

The movements of the table which were next asked for
gave no results of any particular value.

However, a stuffed arm-chair near by was several times
shifted out of its place without contact, advancing of itself
toward Eusapia. Since the chandelier was lighted, and there
was no possibility of any string being used, and since I had
my foot upon that one of Eusapia's which was nearest the
arm-chair, the movement must evidently have been due to a
force emanating from the medium.

I pushed the easy chair back three times. Three times it
returned. The same phenomenon was reproduced several
days afterward.

It is observable that if she had been able to detach her
foot from mine, she would have been able to reach the chair
(by some little twisting,) and the production of the phe-
nomenon must have been within the range of her circle of
activity (and of possible trickery). But, as the case was,
deception was impossible.

Since we could not obtain any levitation of the table, and
since the psychical force of the four of us (Eusapia, myself,
my wife, and Eusapia's companion, who had joined us for
a moment, but, who at other times, always remained apart)
was clearly insufficient, I went and secured a lighter round
table. Then, with her hands placed upon it in contact with
mine, throe of its feet were raised to a height of ten or twelve
inches from the floor. We repeated the experiment three
times, with gratifying success. Eusapia squeezed my hands
violently in one of hers (the right hand) which rested on
the table.

The whole seance is thus seen to have been a web of inter-
mingled truth and falsehood.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 203

These notes remind us onoe more that there is almost
always a mingling of yeritable fact and of fraudulent per-
formance.

It is easy to admit that the medium, wishing to produce
an e£Fect, and having at her disposal for this purpose two
means, — the one easy and demanding only skill and cim-
ning, the other distressing, costly, and painful, — is tempted
to choose, consciously or even unconsciously, that which costs
her the least.

The following is her method of procedure for obtaining
the substitution of hands. The figures shown in Plate XI
represent four successive positions of the medium's hands
and those of the sitters. They show how, owing to the
darkness and to a skilful combined series of movements, she
can induce the sitter on the right to believe that he still
feels the right hand of the medium on his own, while he
really feels her left hand, which is firmly held by the sitter
on the left. This right band of hers, being then free, is
able to produce such effects as are within its reach.

The substitution may be obtained in different ways. But,
whichever method is used, it is evident that the freed hand
can only operate in a space within its reach.

Who of us is always master of his impressions and of
his faculties? writes Dr. Dariex in this connection.*
Who of us can at will put himself into such and such a
physical condition and such and such a moral state ? Is the
composer of music master of his .inspiration ? Does a poet
always write verses of equal worth? Is a man of genius
always a man of genius? Now, what is there less normal,
more impressionable, and more capricious than a sensitive,
a medium, especially when she is away from home, thrown
out of the routine of her daily life, and staying with those
with whom she is unacquainted or knows very slightly, who
are to be her judges and who expect from her the rare and

* Annales des sciences psychiques^ 1806, p. 00.

206 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

abnormal phenomenon the production of which is not under
the constant and complete control of her will ?

A sensitive placed in such a situation, will have a fatal
propensity to feign the phenomenon which does not spon-
taneously materialize or to heighten by deceit the intensi^
of a partially successful experiment.

This feigning is of course a very vexatious and regrettable
thing. It throws suspicion upon the experiments, renders
them much more difficult and less within the reach of the
investigator. But this is only an impediment, and ought not
to fetch us up short and lead us to give a premature de-
cision. All of us who have experimented with and handled
these sensitives know that at every step we run foul of fraud,
conscious or unconscious, and that all mediums — or almost
all — are used to the thing. We know that we must, unfor-
tunately, take our share, for the moment, of this regrettable
weakness, and be perspicacious enough to hinder, or at least
to unearth the trickery, and to disentangle the true from
the false.

More than one of those who have engaged perseveringly
in psychic experiments, can say that he has been sometimes
enervated and irritated while waiting for a phenomenon
which does not take place, and that he has felt something
like a desire to put an end to this waiting by himself giving
the extra twist or decisive touch.*

Such experimenters can understand that if, in place of
being conscientious workers, always masters of themselves,
incapable of deceiving, and engaged solely in the search for
scientific truth, they were, on the contrary, somewhat dreamy
and impulsive persons who were susceptible to suggestion and
whose amour popre was active, and in whose minds scientific
probity did not hold the first and pre-eminent place, they
would undoubtedly engage, more or less involuntarily, in the
artificial production of phenomena which refused to take
j)lace in smooth and natural order.

As to Eusapia, if she does sometimes counterfeit, she does
it only by eluding the watchful inspection of the experimen-
ters and by escaping for a moment from their control; but

• We have already noticed (see p. 149) the practical joke of Pro-
fessor Bianchi in a meeting of the most serious investigators.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 207

she does it without any other artifice. Her experiments are
not planned, and, contrary to the habit of prestidigitators,
she does not carry any apparatus upon her person. It is
easy to assure one's self of this, for she is very willing to
completely undress before a lady charged with keeping watch
of her.

Furthermore, she exhibits her powers ad libitum with the
same persons, and repeats indefinitely the same experiments
before them. Prestidigitators do not act in this way.

It is infinitely to be regretted that we cannot trust the
loyalty of the mediums. They almost all cheat. This is
extremely discouraging to the investigator, and the constant
perplexity of mind we feel during our investigations renders
them altogether painful. When we have passed several days
in these inexplicable researches and then return to scientific
work, — to an observation or to an astromical calculation,
for example, or to the examination of a problem in pure
science, — we experience a sensation of freshness, calmness,
relief, and serenity which give us, by contrast, the most
lively satisfaction. We feel that we are walking on solid
ground and that we have not got to distrust anybody. In-
deed, all the intrinsic interest of psychic problems is needed,
sometimes, to give us the courage to renounce the pleasure
of scientific study in order to give ourselves to investigations
so laborious and perplexed.

I believe that there is only one way to assure ourselves of
the reality of the phenomena, and that is to put the medium
under conditions in which trickery is impossible. To catch
her in the very act of deceit would be extremely easy. It
would only be necessary to give her free rein. And then
one can very easily aid her to cheat and to get caught All
that is necessary is that we be convinced of her dishonesty.
Eusapia, especially, very easily takes suggestion. While
going one day in an open carriage to dine at his residence,

208 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Colonel de Rochas said to her, in my presence, ^' Yon can't
lift your right hand any more. Try it 1 " She did try, but
in vain. "Non posso, non posso!" ("I can't do it, I
can't do iti "). The mere suggestion had been sufficient

In the phenomena concerned with the movements of ob-
jects without contact she always makes a gesture corre-
sponding to the phenomenon. A force darts forth from her
and performs the deed. Thus, for example, she strikes with
her fist three or four strokes in the air at a distance of ten
or twelve inches from the table: the same strokes are heard
in the table. And it is positively in the wood of the table.
It is not beneath it, nor upon the floor. Her legs are held
and she does not move them. She strikes five strokes with
the middle finger upon my hand in the air: the five strokes
are rapped upon the table (November 19).

Nay more, this force can be transmitted by another. I
hold her legs with my left hand spread out upon them ; M.
Sardou holds her left hand; she takes my right wrist in
her right hand and says to me, " Strike in the direction of
M. Sardou." I do so three or four times. M. Sardou feels
upon his body my blows tallying my gesture, with the dif-
ference of about a second between my motion and his sen-
sation. The experiment is tried again with the same suc-
cess.

That same evening, not only did we not let go for a single
instant of Eusapia's hands, separated from each other by
the width of her body and placed near our own, but we did
not allow them to be moved from the side of the objects to
be displaced. It took considerable time to obtain results.
But, all the same, they were wholly successful.

She has a tendency to go and take hold of the objects ; she
must be stopi)od in a good time. However, she herself does
take hold of them, in fact, through the prolongation of her
muscular force, and she says so : "I am grasping it, I have

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 209
hold of it." It is our part to carefully retain her normal
hands in onrs.

We Bometimea have good reason to suspect that Eusapia
seizes the objects to be moved (such as ninaical instruments)
with one of hor hands which she has freed. But there is
plenty of proof that she does not always do so. Here is a
case, for example. The scene is Naples, 1903, at a afiance
with Professor von Schrenck-Notzing :

Fm. 2.

The stance took place in a little room, by a feeble light,
hut one sufficient for us to distinguish the personages and
their movements. Behind the medium, upon a chair, there
was a harmonica, at the distance of about a yard.

Now, at a certain moment, Ensapia took between her hands
a hand of the professor and commenced to separate his
fingers one from another and bring them tt^tber again, as
may be seen in the accompanying cut. The harmonica was
at that moment playing at a distarice in tones that perfectly
synchronized the movements made by Eusapia. The instru-
ment was isolated in the room. We made sure that there

210 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

were no threads connecting it with the medium. Still less
could anybody fear accomplices, for the light would easily
have betrayed their intervention. This performance was
analogous to that which occurred in my presence on the 27th
of July, 1897. (see above p. 72.)

The following is a typical example of "sympathetic"
movements, taken from a report by Dr. Dariex. The mat-
ter in hand was to make a key spring out from a locL

The light was strong enough for us to perfectly distinguish
Eusapia's every movement. All at once, the key of the chest
is heard to rattle in its lock; but, caught in some unknown
way, it refuses to budge. Eusapia grasps with her right
hand the left of M. Sabatier, and, at the same time, curls
the fingers of her other hand around his index finger. Then
she begins to make alternate movements of rotation back
and forth around his finger. We at once hear synchronous
rattlings of the key which turns in its lock just as the fingers
of the medium are doing.*

Let us suppose that the chest, instead of being at a dis-
tance from the medium, had been within her reach ; let us
still further suppose that the light, instead of being abund-
ant, had been feeble and imcertain : the sitters would not
have failed to confound this kind of synchronous automatism
with conscious and impudent fraud on the part of Eusapia.
And thev would have been deceived.

Without excusing fraud, which is abominable, shameful,
and despicable in each and every case, it can undoubtedly
be explained in a very human way by admitting the reality
of the phenomena. In the first place the real phenomena
exhaust the medium, and only take place at the cost of an

• See Annalcs, 1890. The report is very rich in records. The door
of the wardrobe opened and clo&ed of itself, several times in succession,
in synchronism with the movements of the medium's hands, which were
at about a yard's distance. A toy piano weighing about two pounds
was moved about, and played several airs all alone, etc.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 211

enormous expenditure of vital force. She is frequently ill
on the following day, sometimes even on the second day
following, and is incapable of taking any nourishment with-
out immediately vomiting. One can readily conceive, then,
that when she is able to perform certain wonders without
any expenditure of force and merely by a more or less skil-
ful piece of deception, she prefers the second procedure to
the first. It does not exhaust her at all, and may even
amuse her.

Let me remark, in the next place, that, during these ex-
periments, she is generally in a half-awake condition which
is somewhat similar to the hypnotic or somnambulistic sleep.
Her fixed idea is to produce phenomena; and she produces
them, no matter how.

It is, then, urgent, indispensable, to be constantly on the
alert and to control all her actions and gestures with the
greatest care.

I could cite hundreds of analogous examples observed by
myself in the years gone by. Here is one taken from my
notes.

On the second of October, 1889, a spiritualistic stance
had brought together certain investigators in the hospitable
mansion of the Countess of Mouzay, at Rambouillet. We
were told that we had the rare good fortune to have with ua
a veritable and excellent medium, — Mme. X., the wife of a
very distinguished Paris physician, herself well educated
and inspiring by her character the greatest confidence.

We arranged ourselves, four in all, around a little table
of light wood. Scarcely a minute has passed when the
little table seems to be taken with trembling, and almost
immediately it rises and then falls back. This vertical move-
ment is repeated several times in the full light of the lamps
of the salon.

The next day the same levitation occurred in broad day-
light^ at noon, while we were waiting for a guest who was

213 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

late to luncheon. This time the round table used was mueh

heavier.

'^ Is there a spirit there ? " some one asks.

** Yes."

" Is he willing to give his name? "

" Yes."

Someone takes an alphabet, counts the letters, and leoeiyeSy
by taps made by one of the feet of the table, the name
L§opoldine Hugo.

" Have you something to say to us ? "

'^ Charles, my husband, would like to be reunited to me."

" But where is he ? "

" Floating in space."

" And you ? "

" In the presence of (Jod."

" All that is very vague. Could you give us a proof of
identity to show us that you are really the daughter of Victor
Hugo, the wife of Charles Vacqueriet Do you remember
the place where you died ? "

" Yes, at Villequier."

" Inasmuch as the accident of your shipwreck in the Seine
is well knowTi, and since the whole thing may be latent in
our brains, could you please give us other facts? Do you
remember the year of your death ? "

" 1849."

'^ I do not think so," I replied, " for I have in my mind's
eye a page of the Contemplations where the date of Septem-
ber 4, 1843, is written. Has my memory played me false? "

" Yes. It is 1849."

" You astonish me very much, for in 1843, Victor Hugo
returned from Spain on account of your death, while in 1849
he was a representative of the people in Paris. Moreover,
you died six months after your marriage, which took place
in February, 1843."

At this point, the Countess of Mouzay remarked that she
was very well acquainted with Victor Hugo and his family,
that they were living then in the street of Latour-d' Auvergne,
and that the date 1849 must be correct.

I maintain the contrary. The spirit sticks to its fact.

" In what month did the event take place ? "

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 218

" July."

*^ No, it was in September. You are not LSopoldine Huga
How old were you when you died ! "

*' Eighteen years. They don't remember very often to
decorate my tomb with flowers."

" Where ? "

" At Pere-Lachaise."

" You are wrong, it was at Villequier that you were buried,
and I went myself to visit your tomb. Your husband,
Charles Vacquerie is also there, with the two other victims
of the catastrophe. You don't know what you are talking
about"

At this point our hostess declares that she was not thinking
at all of Pgre-Lachaise, and that, in her opinion, Ltepoldine
Hugo and her husband remained at the bottom of the Seine.

After luncheon we sit down again at the stance table.
Various oscillations. Then a name is dictated.

" Sivel."

" The aeronaut ? "

" Yes."

" In what year did you die ? "

"1875." (Correct.)

" What month ? "

" March." (It was April 16.)

" From what point did your balloon start ? ''

"La Villette." (Correct.)

" Where did you fall ? "

" In the river Indre.'^

All these " elements " were more or less known to us. I
ask for a more special proof of identity.

" Where did you know me ? "

" With Admiral Mouchez."

" It is impossible. I first knew Admiral Mouchez at the
time of his appointment to the directorship of the Paris
Observatory. He succeeded Le Verrier in 1877, two years
after your death."

The table is agitated and dictates as follows:

" Give your name."

" Witold. Marchioness, I love you stilL"

" Are you happy ? "

214 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

" No, I behaved badly to you."

" You know very well that I pardon you, and that I pre-
serve the happiest recollection of you.''

" You are too good."

These thoughts were evidently in the mind of the lady;
so there was here no more proof of identity than in the other
case.

All of a sudden the table begins to move vigorously, and
another name is dictated, " Ravachol." *

" Oh, what is he going to say to us ? "

I will set down here what he said, though not without
shame, and with all due apologies to my lady readers. Here
it is in all its crudity:

'' Bougres de cretins, voire sale gueule est encore plaine
des odeurs du festin/*

(" Nasty blackguards and idiots, your dirty throat is still
full of the odors of the feast.")

" Monsieur Ravachol, this language of yours is exquisite !
Have you nothing more refined than this to say to us ? "

" You be blowed ! "

Certainly no one of us was capable of consciously compos-
ing such a sentence as that. But everybody knows the words
that were used. Perhaps our conscious or sub-conscious
thoughts spoke in them ? Did they emanate from Mme. X.,
the medium ?

In the uncertainty into which we were plunged by these
two seances, we asked M. and Mme. X. to come and pass a
Sunday at Juvisy and try some new studies and tests.

They came, and on Sunday, October 8, we obtained some
remarkable levitations. But there are some dregs of doubt
yet in our minds, and we make engagements for another re-
imion that day fortnight.

On Sunday, the 22d of October, 1899, in furtherance of
my desire to exercise careful control over the investigators,
I had four broad boards nailed together, forming a vertical
frame in which I placed the little table to be used during tho
sitting. This framework made it impossible for the feet

♦A Parisian Anarchist executed for dynamiting the houses of the
Judges Benoit and Bulot. The popular chanson of the Anarchists
called La Ravaohole originated in this man's deeds and personality. See
Alvan banbom's Paris and the Social Revolution, Boston, 1905.— Trans.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 215

of the sitters to pass under the table ; and if it rose in spite
of this, then we should know that the levitation was due
to an unknown force.

The remarks of Mme. X., when she saw this device, made
me think at once that no levitation was going to take place.

" This power of ours," said she, " is capricious ; on some
days we get good results, on others none at all, and for no
apparent reason."

" But we shall perhaps have raps, at any rate ? "

" Certainly. We ought not to anticipate results. One
can always try."

Two hours after luncheon, Mme. X. agrees to try a sitting.
No levitation whatever occurred.

I had some suspicions that this would be the case. I
ardently desired the contrary, and we willed the levitation
with all our might. I was expressly careful to have the
same experimenters (Mme. X. and Mme. Cail, and my-
self) as a fortnight before, when everything succeeded so
admirably, — same places, same chairs, same room, tem-
perature, hour, etc.

Eaps indicate that a spirit wishes to speak. I notice that
the raps correspond to a muscular movement of Mme. X.'s
leg.

" Who are you ? "

" In the library of the master of the house my name will
be found in a book."

" How shall we find it ? "

" It is written on a piece of paper."

" In what book ? "

" Astronomia,"

" Of what date ? "

No reply.

"Of what color?"

" Yellow."

"Bound?"

" No."

"Stitched?"

" Yes."

"On what shelf ?**

" Hunt"

216 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

^' It impossible to go through thousands of volumes, and,
besides, there is not such a book in the whole library."

No reply.

After a series of questions we learn that the book is on
the sixth shelf of the main body of the library, to the right
of the door. But first, we all went into the room to make
sure it contained no such book as was described.

" Then the volume is bound in boards ? "

" Yes, there are four low volumes."

"We return to the room, and, sure enough, find in a
volume entitled Anatomia Celeste, Venice, 1573, a piece of
paper, upon which is pencilled the name " Krishna." We
return to the seance table.

** Is it really you, Krishna ? "

" Yes."

" In what epoch did you live ? "

" In the time of Jesus."

" In what country ? "

" In the neighborhood of the Himalaya mountain system."

" And how did you write your name on this piece of
paper ? "

*^ By passing through the thought of my medium."

Etc., etc.

I thought it would be superfluous to persist any farther.

Mme. X. not being able to raise the table had chosen the
device of table rappings. The calling up of the Hindu
prophet, however, I thought was a fine piece of audacity.

The simplest hypothesis is that the woman went into
my library and put the piece of paper in the book. In fact,
she was seen there. But even had she not been, the conclu-
sion would be no less certain. For the room was open, and
Mme. X. had remained about an hour in the next room,
detained by " a nervous headache."

This specimen of mediumistic trickery is, as I have said,
one among hundreds. Really, one must be endowed wdth the
most unweariable perseverance to enabler him to devote to
those studies hours which would be much better employed
even in doing nothing at all. However, when one has the

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 217

conviction that something real exists he always returns, in
spite of incessant trickery.

In the month of May. 1901, Princess Karadja introduced
to me a professional medium, Frau Anna Rothe, a (German,
whose specialty consisted in her alleged ability to spirit
flowers into a ti^tly closed room in broad daylight

I made arrangements for a sSanco with her at my apart-
ments in Paris. During its continuance^ bouquets of flow-
ers of all sizes, did, in truth, make their appearance, but
always from a quarter in the room the opposite of that to
which our attention was drawn by Frau Rothe and her
manager, Max lentsch.

Being well nigh convinced that all was fraud, but not
having the time to devote to such sittings, I begged M. Cail
to be present, as often as he could, at the meetings which
were to be held in different Parisian salons. He gladly con-
sented, and got invited to a s6ance at the C16ment Marot
house. Having taken his station a little in the rear of the
flower-scattering medium, he saw her adroitly slip one hand
beneath her skirts and draw out branches which she tossed
into the air.

He also saw her take oranges from her corsage, and as-
certained that they were warm.

The imposture was a glaring one, and he inmiediately
unmasked her, to the great scandal of the assistants, who
heaped insults upon him. A final seance had been planned,
to be held in my salon on the following Tuesday. But Frau
Rothe and her two accomplices took the train at the Eastern
Railway station that very morning, and we saw them no
more. In the following year she was arrested in Berlin,
after a fraudulent seance, and sentenced to one year in jail
for swindling.

In this class of things, cheatings and hoaxings are as

218 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

numerous as authenticated facts. Those who are curious in
such things will not have forgotten the scandalous hoax and
misdemeanor of the celebrated Mr3. Williams^ an American
woman who was received in full confidence, in 1894^ in
Paris, by my excellent friend, the Duchess of Pomar. Al-
ready made distrustful by the ingenious observations of the
young duke, the sitters were determined not to be the butt
of her fooleries very long, and a sitting was agreed on. The
participators were MM. de Watteville, Dariex, Mangin,
Ribero, Wellemberg, Lebel, Wolf, Paul Leymarie (son of
the editor of La Revue Spirite)^ etc

The specialty of Mrs. Williams (who was, by the way,
quite a stout person) was the showing of apparitions, or
ghosts. Said apparitions proved to be manikins, rather
poorly got up; the lady spectators, as well as the gen-
tlemen, were quite disappointed at the absence of the rich
and flowing outlines of form under the draperies of the
wretched puppets. Thin and limp, tatterdemalion things,
they showed not the faintest resemblance to the normal
and classic contours of woman, the lines of which we
should have been able to glimpse at least to some extent
under the light gauze that enwrapped the figures. Several
bright-witted, but rather irreverent, ladies took no pains to
conceal the fact that they should prefer annihilation if it
were necessary to be so ... " reduced," so " incom-
plete " in the other world ! The gentlemen added that they
would certainly not be alone in lamenting such a state of
things !

There was no religious atmosphere at all about these sit-
tings. The imposture was discovered, or, one might rather
say, seized, by M. Paul Leymarie. He simply grasps Mme.
Impostor around the waist (having slipped behind the cur-
tain for the purpose), and holds her fast for the inspection
of the audience. Lights are brought on^ and^ in the midst

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 219

of the confused uproar made by twenty-five duped sitters,
the heroine of the entertainment is compelled to show her-
self in flesh tights, while the whole apparatus of her ghostly
puppet-show is discovered in the cabinet!

Mrs. Williams had the effrontery to defend herself, a
little later, in the American Journal Light, bestowing the
playful epithet of ^^ bandits '' upon those who had unmasked
her in Paris.

That was a case of high mystification, of jugglery worthy
of a street-comer mountebank. But, as we have already
seen^ matters do not usually attain to such a height of au-
dacity, and quite often fraud only intervenes when the gen-
uine powers have become enfeebled. This well appeared
in the accounts of the '^ girl torpedo-fish,'' Angelica C!ottin,
who attained a good deal of notoriety.

On the 15th of January, 1846, in the village of Bouvigny,
near Perriere (Ome), a young girl thirteen years old,
named Angelica Cottin, light and robust, but extremely
apathetic in physical temperament and in morals, suddenly
exhibited strange powers. Objects touched by her, or by
her clothing, were forcibly repelled. Sometimes, even on
her mere approach, people were thrown into commotion and
excitement, and pieces of furniture and household utensils
were seen to move and vibrate. With some variations in
intensity, and with intermittences, sometimes, of two or
three days, this curious virtue held good for about a month,
then disappeared as unexpectedly as it had appeared. It
was authenticated by a large number of persons, some of
whom submitted the little girl to genuine scientific experi-
ments, and embodied their observations in formal reports,
which were collected and published by Dr. Tanchou. This
gentleman first saw Angelica on February 12 (1846), in
Paris, where she had been taken to be exhibited. The man-
ifestations (which had decreased from the day when the

220 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

basis, or usual course of her habits had been altered) were
on the point of disappearing altogether. Yet they were still
distinct enough to enable the investigator to draw up the
following note, which was read to the Academy of Soience,
on February 17, by Arago, an eye-witness of the facts.*

I saw the young " electric " girl twice (says Dr. Tanchou).

A chair which I was holding as hard as I could with my
foot and both hands was forcibly wrenched from me the
moment she sat down in it.

A little slip of paper which I held poised on one finger
was several times carried away as if by a gust of wind.

A dining-table of moderate size, though rather heavy, was
more than once displaced by the mere touch of her dress.

A little paper wheel, placed vertically or horizontally upon
its axis was put into rapid movement by the radiations which
darted from this child's wrist and the bend of her arm. f :

A large and heavy sofa upon which I was seated was
pushed with great force against the wall the moment the girl
came to seat herself by me.

A chair was held fast upon the floor by strong men and I
was seated on it in such a way as to occupy only the half of
the seat. It was forcibly wrenched away from under me as
soon as the young girl sat down on the other half.

One curious thing is that every time the chair is lifted it
seems to cling to Angelica's dress. It follows her for an
instant before it becomes detached.

Two little elder-pith balls or feather-balls, suspended by a
silken thread, are set in motion, attracted to each other and
sometimes repelled.

* See also Enquite 8ur Vautheniicit4 des phSnom^es electriquet
d'Angclique Cottin. Paris, Germer Balli^re, 1846. Also L^ Exterior-
isation de la motriciU, by Albert de Koehas.

t lAfontaine, who also studied AngeUca's case, says that " when she
brou/?ht her left wrist near a lighted candle, the flame bent over hor-
izontally, as if continually blown upon." {L*art de maffnetiser, p.
273).

M. Pelletier observed the same thing In the case of some of his sub-
jects, when they brought the palm of the hand near a candle.

Specialists call these points ** hypnogenic points,'' from which fluidic
streams radiate.

rEAITDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 221

This girl's radiations of psychic force (emanations) are
not permanently present during all the hours of the day.
They are especially strong in the evening, from seven to nine
oVIock, — which leads me to surmise that perhaps her last
meal (taken at sijc o'clock) is not without its influence.

The emanations are given forth only from the front
part of the body, especially at the wrist and at the bend
of the arm. They only occur on the left side, and the arm of
this side is of a higher temperature than that of the other.
It gives off a gentle heat, as from a part where a lively reac-
tion is going on. The arm trembles and is continually dis-
turbed by unusual contractions and quiverings which seem to
be imparted to the hand that touches it.

During the time I observed this subject, her pulse varied
from 105 to 120 pulsations a minute. It seemed to me fre-
quently irr^ular.

When she is isolated from the common reservoir of elec-
tric or magnetic power, either by being seated upon a chair
without her feet touching the floor or when placing them
upon the chair of a person in front of her, the phenomena
do not take place. Tliey also cease when she is made to
sit down on her own hands. A waxed floor, a piece of oiled
silk, a plate of glass under her feet or on the chair, all have
the effect of antagonizing and destroying for the time the
electro-dynamic property of her body.

During the paroxysm she can touch scarcely anything
with her left hand without throwing it from her as if it
burned her. When her clothes touch the articles of furniture
in a room she attracts them^ displaces them, and overturns
them.

One will understand this more easily when it is realized
that at every electric discharge she runs away to escape
the pain. She says " it pricks" or " stings " her in the wrist
or bend of the elbow. Once when I was feeling for her pulse
in the temporal artery (not having been able to locate it in .
the left arm) my fingers chanced to touch the nape of the /
neck. She uttered a cry and drew back quickly from me. I /
several times assured myself of the fact that, near the cere-j
bellum, at the place where the muscles of the upper part o1
the neck are joined to the cranium, there is a spot so sensitive

222 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOKCES

that she allows no one to touch it. All the sensations she
feels in her left arm are here echoed or repeated.

The electric emanations of this child seem to move by
waves, intermittently, and in succession through different
parts of the anterior portion of the body. But be that as
it may, they are certainly accompanied by an aeriform cur-
rent which gives the sensation of cold. I plainly felt upon
my hand a quick puff of air like that produced by the lips.

Every time the mysterious force strikes through her frame
and materializes in an act, terror and dismay fill the mind
of this child, and she seeks refuge in flight. Every time she
brings the end of her fingers near the north pole of a piece
of magnetized iron, she receives a severe shock; the south
pole produces no effect. If I manipulated the iron in such
a way that I could not myself tell the north pole on it, she
could always tell it very well.

She is thirteen years old and has not yet reached
the age of puberty. I learned from her mother that nothing
like menstruation has yet appeared. She is very strong and
healthy, but her intellect is as yet little developed. She is a
peasant cottager {vilUigeoise) in every sense of the word; yet
she knows how to read and write. Her occupation is the
making of thread gloves for ladies. The first electric phe-
nomena began a month ago.

It is desirable to add to the foregoing note extracts from
other reports. Here, for example, is a citation from M.
Hebert:

On the 17th of January, — that is to say, the second day
of the appearance of the phenomena, — the scissors suspended
from her waist by a cotton tape, flew from her without the
cord being broken, and no one could imagine how it got un-
tied. This circumstance, incredible from its resemblance to
the pranks of lightning, makes one think at once that elec-
tricity must play an important role in the production of such
astonishing effects. But this way of looking at the thing
did not last long. For the miracle of the scissors only oc-
curred twice, once in the presence of the cure of the viUage,

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 223

\i:ho guaranteed to me upon bis honor the truth of the state-
ment. In the middle of the day aknost no effects were
obtained^ but in the evening, at the usual hour, they redoubled
in intensity. It was at that time that action without contact
took place, and effects were produced in organic living bodies.
These latter made their first appearance in the form of violent
shocks felt in the ankles by one of the women laborers who
happened at the time to be facing Angelica, the points of
their sabots being about four inches apart

Dr. Beaumont Chardon, a physician of ^ortagne, also
published similar notes and observations, — among others
the following:

The repulsion and attraction, hopping about and displace-
ment, of a rather solid table ; of another table six feet by nine,
mounted on casters; of another four-feet-and-a-half square
oak table ; of a very massive mahogany easy-chair, — all
these displacements took place through contact with the
Cottin girVs clothes, — contact either involuntary or pur-
posely brought about by experiments.

There was a sensation of violent prickings when a stick of
soaling-wax or a glass tube suitably rubbed was placed in con-
tact with a bend in the left arm or with the head, or simply
when brought somewhat near there. When the sealing-wax
or the tube had not been rubbed, or when they were being
wiped dry or moistened, there was a cessation of effects.
The hairs on one's arm, made to slope or lie flat by a little
saliva, rose up again at the approach of the child's left arm.

I have already remarked that this young girl was brought
to Paris as a subject of scientific observation. Arago, at the
Observatory, in the presence of his colleagues MM. Mathieu,
Laugier, and Goujon, established the truth of the following
phenomena :

When Angelica held out her hand toward a sheet of
paper laid near the ed*]^e of a table, the paper was strongly
attracted by the hand. Approaching a centre-table, she

224 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

grazed it with her apron^ and the table drew back from
her. When she sat down on a chair and put her feet on the
floor, the chair was thrown back violently against the waU,
and she herself was thrown forward to the other side of the
room. This last experiment, repeated several times, always
succeeded. Neither Arago nor the astronomers of the Ob-
servatory were able to hold the chair do^Ti. M. Qoujon, who
had sat down in advance upon one half of the chair which
was going to be used by Angelica, was upset at the moment
when she came to share the seat with him.

Following a favorable report of its illustrious perpetual
secretary,''^ the Academy of Science named a commission to
examine Angelica Cottin. This commission confined its
efforts exclusively to the task of determining whether or not
the electrical force of the subject was similar to that of the
machines or that of the torpedo-fish. They could not come
to any conclusion, probably on account of the emotion excited
in the girl at the sight of the formidable apparatus of ex-
perimentation ; and then her peculiar powers were already
on their decline. Thus the commission hastened to declare
all the communications on this subject made to the Academy
previous to this to be null and void.

Upon this topic my old master and friend Babinet, who
was a member of the commission, wrote as follows:

The members of the commission were not able to verify
any of the features announced. There was no report made,
and Angelica's parents, worthy people of the most exemplary
probity, returned with her from Paris to their own locality.
The good faith of this couple and of a friend who accompan-
ied them interested me very much, and I would have given
anything in the world to find some reality in the wonders
that had been proclaimed about the girl. The only remark-
able thing she did was to rise from her chair in the most

• Arago. — Trana.

FRAITDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 225

laattcr of fact way in the world and hurl it behind her with
snch force that often the chair was broken against the wall.
But the supreme experiment, — that in which, according to
her parents, the miracle was revealed of motion produced
without contact, — was as follows : She was placed standing
before a light centre-table covered with a thin silken stuff.
Her apron also made of a very light and almost transparent
silk, rested on the centre-table (though this last condition was
not indispensable). Then, when the electric force appeared,
the table was overturned, while " the electric girl *' main-
tained her usual stupid impassivity. I had never personally
seen any success attained in this particular feature of the
girl's performances; nor had my colleagues of the commis-
sion of the Institute, nor the physicians, nor certain writers,
who, with great assiduity, had attended all the stances ap-
pointed at the headquarters of the girl's parents in Paris.
As for myself, I had already overstepped all the bounds of
friendly complaisance, when, one evening the parents came to
beseech me, in virtue of the interest I had shown in them, to
attended one more seance, saying that the electric force wa:?
going to declare itself anew with great energy. 1 arrived
about eight o'clock in the evening at the hotel where the
Cottin family was staying. I was disagreeably surprised at
finding a seance intended only for myself, and the friends
whom I brought with me, overrun by a crowd of physicians
and journalists who had been attracted by the announcement
of the prodigies which were to begin again. After due ex-
cuses had been made I was introduced to a back room which
served as dining-room, and there I found an immense kitchen
table made of oak planks of an enormous thickness and
weight At the moment when dinner was being served the
electric girl had, by an act of her will (it was said), over-
turned this massive table, and, as a necessary result, broken
all the plates and bottles that were on it But her excellent
parents did not regret the loss, nor the poor dinner that re-
sulted from it, on account of the hope that animated them
that the marvellous qualities of the poor idiot were going to
manifest themselves and receive the official stamp of authen-
ticity. There was no possibility of doubting the veracity of
these honest witnesses. An octogenarian who accompanied

826 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

me (M. M. — , the most sceptical of men) believed their re-
cital as I did ; but, after entering with me the room full of
people, this distrustful observer took his stand in the veiy
entrance-door, alleging as a pretext the crowd in the room, and
80 placed himself as to have a side view of the electric girl
with her centre-table before her. The crowd that faced the
girl occupied the farther end and the sides of the room.

After an hour of patient waiting, and all in vain^ I with-
drew, expressing my sympathy and my regrets. M. M. re-
mained obstinately at his post. He pointed the electric girl
with his unwearied eye, as a crouching setter does a partridge.
At last, at the end of another hour, when the attention of the
company was distracted by innumerable preoccupations and
several centres of conversation had been formed — suddenly
the miracle occurred : the centre-table was overturned. Great
amazement ! great expectations I They were just banning
to cry " Bravo ! '' when M. M., advancing by warrant of age
and the love of truth, declared that he had seen Angelica, by a
convulsive movement of the knee, push the table that was
placed before her. He drew the conclusion that the efiFort she
must have made before dinner in the overturning of the heavy
kitchen table would have occasioned a severe contusion above
her knee, — a matter that was investigated and found to be
true. Such was the end of this melancholy affair in which
so inauy people had been duped by a poor idiot, who yet had
enough crafty cunning to inspire illusion by her very calm-
ness and impassivity. We have still to account for the singu-
lar facts observed near Rambouillet (see the Reports of the
Academy), at the house of a wealthy manufacturer, all whose
vases and other vessels of pottery-ware burst into a thousand
pieces at the moment when least expected. Kettles and other
large vessels cast in metal also flew into fragments, to the
great loss of the proprietor, whose troubles, however, ceased
with the discharge of a servant, who had come to an under-
standing with a man who was to occupy the factory so that he
might get it at a better bargain. Nevertheless, it is to be
regretted that the matter ended before it was discovered what
fulminating powder had been employed to produce such cur-
ious results, 80 new, and, apparently, so well proved. *

^ Etudes et lectures aur les aciencea d' observations, vol. IL, 1856.

FRAUDS, MYSTIFICATIONS, IMPEDIMENTS 227

Babinet adds farther on in the same volume the follow-
ing remarks on Angelica Cottin :

In the midst of wonders which she did not perform there
was seen a very natural effect of the first relaxation of muscles
which was curious in the highest degree. The girl, of slight
figure and torpid physique, who was correctly styled the
'^ torpedo-fish/' being first seated on a chair and then rising
very slowly (in the midst of the movement she was making
in the act of rising) had the power of throwing backward,
with terrifying suddenness, the chair she was leaving, without
anybody being able to perceive the slightest movement of the
trunk of the body, and solely by the relaxation of the muscle
which had been in contact with the chair. At one of the test-
seances in the laboratory of physics at the Jardin des Plantes,
several amphitheatre chairs of white wood were hurled
against the walls in such a way as to break them. A second
chair, which I had once taken the precaution to place behind
that in which the electric girl was seated (for the purpose of
protecting, if need were, two persons who were conversing at
the back part of the room) was drawn along with the pro-
pelled chair and went with it to arouse from their absent-
mindedness the two savants. I will add that several young
employees at the Jardin des Plantes succeeded in performing
— although in a less brilliant way — this pretty trick in
bodily mechanics. In order to get a good idea of this play
of the muscles by a similar effect, you have only to gently
squeeze that part of the muscle of some one's arm that is
most developed, at the same time that he makes the motion
of opening and closing his fist several times. You will at
once feel the swelling up of the muscles and divine the move-
ment that would result from it were the change of shape
made very rapid:

Such is the report of the learned physicist. It is thus
that fraud once more hindered the recognition of the reality
of phenomena that had been duly proved before. Accom-
panying this there was also a weakening of the faculties
of the performer. But it is absurd to conclude from this

228 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

that the obeerven of the earlier days in this case (indading
Arago and his ooUeagues of the Observatory, — Mathien,
Laugier, and Goujon, — as well as the examiner Hubert,
Dr. Beaumont Chardon, and others) were poor obeervers,
and were deceived by movements of the foot of this child.

We may allow for the fraud, conscious and unconacious
of mediums. We may deplore it, for it throws an unpleas-
ant gloom upon all the phenomena ; but let us render justice
to incontestable facts, and continue to observe them.

Quare et inveniesl Seek and thou shalt find. The Ufh
knovm, the science of to-morrow.

CHAPTER VI

THE EXPEBIMENTS OF COUNT DE OASPABnr

One of the most important series of experiments that has
been made on the subject of moving tables is that of Count
Agenor de Gasparin at Valleyres, Switzerland, in Septem-
ber, October, November, and December of the year 1858.
The Count has published formal reports of these studies in
two large volumes.* These seances may be called purely
scientific, for they were conducted with the most scrupulous
care and were under the severest control. The table usually
employed had a round oak top thirty-two inches in diameter,
which rested on a heavy three-footed central column, the
feet being about twenty-two inches apart. There were usu-
ally ten or twelve experimenters, and they formed the chain
on the table by touching each other with their little fingers
in such a way that the thumb of the left hand of each opera-
tor touched that of his right hand, and the little finger of
the right hand touched that of the left hand of his neighbor.
In the opinion of the author, this chain is useful, but not
absolutely necessary. The rotation of the table usually
began after a waiting of five or ten minutes. Then it lifted
one foot to a height that varied from time to time, and fell
back again. The levitation took place even when a very
heavy man was seated on the table. Botations and levita-
tions were obtained without the contact of hands. But let
us hear the author himself :

* De$ Table9 iounutntes, du Sumaturel en gin6ral, ti de9 Etpritt^
far le cotnte AgHtor de Oaaparin, Paris, Dentu, 1854>

229

230 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

It is a question of positive fact that I wish to solve. The
theory will come later. To prove that the phenomenon of
turning tables is real and of a purely physical nature; that
it can neither be explained by the mechanical action of our
muscles nor by the mysterious action of spirits, — such is my
thesis. It is my wish to state it with precision and circum-
scribe its limits here at the very start. I confess I find
some satisfaction in meeting with unanswerable proofs the
sarcasms of people who find it easier to mock than to exam-
ine. I am well aware that we have got to put up with
that. No new truth becomes evident without having been
first ridiculed. But it is none the less agreeable to reach the
moment when things assume their legitimate place, and when
roles cease to be inverted. This moment might have been
long in coming. For a long time I feared that table-phenom-
ena would not admit of a definite scientific demonstration;
that, while they inspired absolute certainty in the minds of
the operators and witnesses at first hand, they would not fur-
nish irrefutable arguments to the public In the presence
of bare possibilities, each person would be free to cherish his
owTi particular opinion; we should have had believers and
sceptics. The classification would have taken place in virtue
of tendencies rather than by reason of one's knowledge or
ignorance of the facts. Some, in the agreeable sensation of
their intellectual superiority, would have carried their head
very high, and others would have abandoned themselves in
despair to the current superstitions of the day. The truth
incompletely demonstrated would have been treated as a lie,
and, what is worse, would have ended by becoming such.

But thank (Jod I it will not be so now. Our meetings were
real and formal seances, to which the best hours of the day
were given. The results, verified with the most minute care,
were embodied in formal and official declarations. I have
these proces-verhaux before me now, and it seems to me that
I could not do better than to take up one after another and
extract from each the interesting observations it may con-
tain. I shall thus follow the method of certain historians,
and relate the truth rather than systematize it. The reader
will, as it were, follow us step by step. He will examine
and check my various assertions by comparing them j he will

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 281

form his own conviction, and will judge whether my proofs
have that character of frequent occurrence, of persistency,
of progressive development which false discoveries, based
upon some fortuitous and poorly described coincidence, never
have.

These are promising premises. We shall see whether
the promises will be kept The report (or minutes) of the
first meeting bears the date of September 20, 1853. Numer-
ous seances had been held before, but it had not been
thought necessary to write down the results. What those re-
sults were will be seen by the following brief account :

Only those have an invincible conviction (writes Count de
Gasparin) who have participated in seance studies frequently
and directly, who have felt under their very fingers the pro-
duction of those peculiar movements which the action of our
muscles cannot imitate. They know the limitations of their
powers and where to stop. For they have seen the table
refuse to rotate at all, in spite of the impatience of the investi-
gators, and in spite of their clamorous appeals. Then again,
they have been present when it started to move so gently, so
softly and spontaneously started, it can be said, under fin-
gers which hardly touched it. They have at times seen
the legs of the table (riveted by some enchantment to the
floor) refuse to budge on any terms, in spite of the incite-
ment and coaxing of those who composed the chain. On
other occasions they have seen the same table-legs perform
levi tat ions that were so free and energetic that they antici-
pated the hands, got the start of the orders, and executed
the thoughts almost before they w^ere conceived, and with
an energy well-nigh terrifying. They have heard with their
own ears stunning raps and gentle raps, the one threatening
to break the table, the others of such incredible fineness and
delicacy that one could scarcely catch the sounds, and none
of us could in any degree imitate them. They have re-
marked that the force of the levitations is not diminished
when the sitters are removed from the side of the table that
is to form the fulcrum. They have themselves commanded

232 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the table to lift that one of its legs over which rest the only
hands that compose that portion of the chain still remainingi
and the leg has risen as often and as high as they wished.
They have observed the table in its dances when it beats
the measure with one foot or with two; when it reproduces
exactly the rhythm of the music that has just be^ sung;
when, yielding in the most comic way to llie invitation to
dance the minuet, it takes on grandmotherly aira, sedately
makes a half turn, curtsies, and then comes forward turning
the other side! The manner in which the events took place
told the experimenters more than the events themselves.
They were in contact with a reality which soon made itself
understood.

The persevering experiments we had made before the 20th
of September had already given us proof of two principal
things, — the Icvitation of a weight that the muscular action
of the operators was powerless to move, and the reproduction
of numbers by mind reading.

I shall now give the formal declarations or reports, by
Count de Gasparin, or at least the essential parts of them.
I shall present them here as the author has done, s6ance after
seance. The reader will judge. He is urged to read the
reports with the greatest attention. They are scientific doc-
uments of the highest value, and quite as important as the
preceding ones.

Seance of September SO

Some one proposed the experiment which consists in caus-
ing a table to rotate and give raps while it has on it a man
weighing say a hundred and ninety pounds. We accordingly
placed such a man on the table, and the twelve experimenters,
in chain, applied their fingers to it.

The success was complete: the table turned, and rapped
several strokes. Then it rose up entirely off the floor in such
a way as to upset the person who was upon it. Let me be
permitted here, in passing, to make a general remark. We
had already had numerous meetings. Our experimenters,

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPAHIN 233

among whom were several young ladies of delicate physique,
had worked with very unusual perseverance and energy.
Their bodily fatigue at the end of each sitting was naturally
very great. It seems as if we should therefore have ex-
pected some nervous collapses more or less grave, to show
themselves among us. If explanations based upon involun-
tary acts performed in a state of extraordinary excitement
had the least foundation in fact, we should have had tranoes,
almost possessions, and, at any rate, nervous attacks. Kow,
in spite of the exciting and noisy character of our meetings,
it did not happen, in five months time, that any one of us
experienced a single moment of indisposition or eicknees of
any kind. We learned something more : when a person is in
a state of nervous tension, he or she becomes positively unfit
to act upon the table. It must be bandied cheerfully,
lightly, and deftly, with confidence and authority, but with-
out passion. This is so true that the moment I took too
much interest in things I ceased to obtain obedience. If,
on account of public discussiona in which I had been engaged,
I chanced to desire success too ardently and to grow impatient
over delay, I had no longer any control over the table ; it re-
main inert.

Seance of September £i

We began pretty poorly, and were almost inclined to think
that the net result of the day's experiments would be
limited to the two following observations, which have their
value, to tell the truth, and which our experience has always
eonfinned : First, there are days when nothing can be done,
nothing prospers, although the sitters are as numerous, as
strong, and as excited as ever, — which proves that the move-
ments of the table are not obtained by fraud or by the involun-
tary pressure of the muscles. Second, there are persons
(ihose among others who are sickly or fatigued) whose pres-
ence in the chain is not only of no use, but even detrimentel.
Destitute themselves of the fluidic force, they seem, besides,
to hinder its circulation and transmission. Their good will,
their faith in the table are of no avail; as long as they are
there the rotations are feeble, the levitations spiritless, the
drafts draun on the table are not honored ; that one of its feet

284 HTSTEBIOUS PSTCHIC F0BCE8

facing them is especially strock with paralysis. Beg them to
X6tire, and immediately the vitality appears again and eveiy-
thing succeeds as if by magic Indeed, it vas only after we
had taken this course that we finally obtained the free snd
energetic movements to which we had been aoenstomed* We
had become quite discouraged; but when the poxging of
which I have just spoken took place, lo^ what a chapgel
Nothing seems di£Scult to' us. Even those who (like my-
self) ordinarily have only mediocre succeesy now think of
numbers and make the table rap them out with complete
success, or with the slight imperfection (that frequently oc-
curs) of a tap too many, owing to the delay in giving the
mental order to stop the taps.

Seeing that everything was going according to our wishi
and having decided to try the impossible, we next undertake
an experiment which marks our entrance into a wholly new
phase of the study and places our former experimental demon-
strations under the guarantee of a positively irrefutable dem-
onstration. We are going to leave probability behind and
dwell with evidence. We are going to make die table move
without touching it* And this is how we succeeded that first
time:

At the moment when the table was whirling with a power-
ful and irresistible rotation, at a given signal we all lifted our
fingers. Then keeping our hands united by means of the
little fingers, and continuing to form the chain at a height of
say an eighth or a quarter of an inch above the table, we con-
tinued our circular movement. To our great surprise the
table did the same; it made in this way three or four turns!
We could scarcely believe our good fortime; the by-standers
(witnesses) could not keep from clapping their hands. And
the way in which the rotation took place was as remarkable as
the rotation itself. Once or twice the table stopped follow-
ing us because the little accidents and interruptions of our
march had withdrawn our fingers from their regular dis-
tance from the top of the table. Once or twice the table
had come to life again — if I may so express myself — when
the turning chain bad again got into the right relation with
it. We all had the feeling that each hand had carried along
in its course that portion of the table immediately beneath it.

EXPERIMENTS OF OASPABIN 335

Seance of September S9
We were naturally impatient to Bubmit rotation without
contact to a new test. In the confusion of the first success
we forgot to renew and VATy this decisive experiment When
we got to thinking about it afterwards we saw that it be-
hooved us to do the thing over again with more care and in
the presence of new witnesses; that it was, above all, im-
portant to produce the movement and not merely to con>
tinue it, and to produce it in the form of levitations in-
stead of limiting it to rotations. Snch was the pn^am of
our meeting of September 29. Kever was program carried
ont with greater prectaion. As a preliminary, we repeated
our successful feat of the 24th. While the table was rotating
rapidly, the interlocked hands were lifted from it, though
continuing to turn above it and form the chain. The table
followed, making now one or two revolutions, and now a
half or a quarter turn only. The Huccess, more or less pro-
longed, was certain. We confirmed it several times. But
some one might say that, the table being already in motion,
the momentum carried it along mechanically while we im-
agined it was yielding to our fluidic force. The objection
was absurd, and we would have challenged anybody to ob-
tain a single quarter of a turn without forming the chain,
however rapid might have been the rotation imparted.
Above all, would we have challenged anyone to renew its
motion when it had been for an instant suspended. How-
ever, it is well in such cases to forestall even absurd objec-
tions, however little of plausibility they may have. And this
particular objection might seem plausible to the inattentive
man. It was imperative, then, that we should produce rotar
tion starting from a state of complete inertia. This we did.
The table being as motionless as we were, the chain of hands
parted from it and began to turn slowly at a height of about
three-eightba of an inch above its edge. In a moment the
table made a slight movement, and each of us striving to draw
along by his will that part situated under his own fingers,
we succeeded in drawing the disk in our train. The de-
tails that followed resembled those of the preceding case.
There is such dif&culty in maintaining the chain in the air

236 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

without breaking it^ in keeping it near the border of the
table without going too quick and thus destroying tho
harmonious relation established, that it often happens that
the rotation stops after a turn or a half-turn. Yet it in
sometimes prolonged during three or even four revolutions.
We expected to encounter still greater obstacles when we
should undertake levitation without contact But the matter
turned out quite otherwise. This is easily explained when
we remember that in this case there is no circular movement
and it is much easier to maintain the normal position of the
hands above the table. The chain, then, being formed at a
distance of an eighth of an inch or so above the round top
of the table, we ordered one of its legs to lift itself up, and
it did so.

We were highly delighted, and repeated this pretty ex-
periment many times. Without touching it in any way, we
ordered the whole table to rise into the air, and to resist the
witnesses, who had to put forth effort to bring it down to the
floor. We commanded it to turn bottom side up, and it
fell over with its feet in the air, although we never touched
it with our fingers, but kept them in advance of it as it fell,
at the distance agreed upon.

Such were the essential results of this meeting. They
are such that I hesitate to mention in the same connection in-
cidents of secondary importance.

I will only say, in passing, that the seance was very
discouraging at the start ; for, not only was it found neces-
sary to remove certain new operators, but several of the old
ones did not bring to it their usual high spirits. The table
responded poorly; raps were made faintly and as if with
reluctance; the telepathic reading of numbers did not suc-
ceed. Then we took a resolution from which we derived
much benefit : we persevered, and persevered gaily ; we sane:,
we made the table dance; we gave up all thoughts of new
experiments and persisted in easy and amusing ones. After
a while conditions changed; the table fairly bounded, and
hardly waited for our orders; we were now in condition to
try more serious things.

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPAKIN L>oT

Seance of October 1

A long meeting, and very fatiguing. It was principally
devoted to the trial of various mechanical devices which had
no success whatever, — such as metal rings; frameworks of
canvas or of paper placed upon the table; plates on pivots;
and spring-keys. Whether the sight of all this gear hindered
the radiation of the fluidic force from the operators, whether
the contrivances themselves stopped its circulation in the
table, or whether, in fine, the natural conditions of the phe-
nomenon were disturbed in some other way, it is certain that
the results amounted to nothing or were doubtful.

One new experiment succeeded. A plate turning on a
pivot held a tub. I filled this tub with water, and two
of my collaborators and I plunged our hands into it. We
formed the chain and began a circular walk, being careful
not to touch the tub. This at once imitated our movement.
We repeated the thing several times in succession.

Since it might be supposed that the impulse given to the
water would sufiice to set in motion a tub resting on so deli-
cately balanced a plate, we at once proceeded to prove the
contrary. The water was given a circular whirl causing it
to move with much greater rapidity than when we formed
the chain; but the tub moved not a peg. Undoubtedly the
point remains to be considered whether one of us three did
not touch the inside of the tub and so determine its move-
ment. To that I reply, first, that the way in which our
hands were held in the water obviously proves that none
of our fingers could really touch bottom; secondly, that,
taking pains as we did to form the chain at the centre, it
would have been scarcely less difficult for us to touch the
vertical sides of the tub.

And yet, the doubt being not wholly inadmissible, I class
this experiment among those of which I do not purpose to
make any use. I wish to show that I am hard to please in
the matter of evidence.

The proof which the rapping of numbers by mind-reading
furnishes has always seemed to be one of the most convinc-
ing. In the sitting I am describing, it had this special
feature, that each of the ten operators in turn received

288 KYSTEBIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

the oommimication of a number in writings the others haf-
ing their eyes shnt Now, in the whole ten, one alone fidled
to obtain perfect obedience from the table-l^ which had been
assigned to him l^ verj enspicionB witnefleee, cfi bjHrtanden.
If m^ readers will reflect carefully they ^nll see that the
combmations of movements communicated and of cheatiDg
tricks which such a solid result as this would require passes
far beyond the bounds of admissible things. To justify
it the objector must invent a miracle much more astounding
than ours.

Let us turn again to the finest of all demonstrations^ that
of levitation without contact. We began l^ performing it
three times. Then, since it was thought by some that the
inspection of the witnesses could be carried on in a surer way
in the case of a small table than in that of a large one, and
with five operators more certainly than with ten, we had a
plain deal centre-table brought which the chain, reduced by
half, sufficed to put in rotation. Then the hands were
lifted, and, contact with the table being entirely broken, U
rose seven times into the air at our command.

Seance of October 8

Two circumstances occurred to confirm the results we had
obtained in preceding s6ances. Among the numbers selected
for the thought-test the roguery of one of the witnesses had
placed a zero, and the leg selected by him to respond was at
the left of the operator and beyond the reach of his muscular
action. Now, the command having been given to the leg and
no action resulting, we were all feeling disconsolate, being
convinced that our weakness that day was so great that we
were not going to obtain even simple levitations. I affirm
most emphatically that if movement had ever been imparted
by an experimenter to a table leg, it would have appeared
at that moment Our nerves were in an exalted state and
our impatience was at its height. Yet no movement of the
table took place, and wo were consequently all the more
solaced when wc learned that the figure communicated had
been a cipher.

Movement without contact was accomplished twice.

To our experiment of a table that gave raps while having

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 239

8 man upon it, it bad been objected that thia man might lend
his aid to the movement, and even incite it in part Detei^
mined to seek out the truth with the most anxious care, we
bad recognized a certain plausibility in this objection, and
had decided to meet it fairly. The being who was living,
intelligent, and conBequcntly suapected must be replaced by
an inert weight. Euckcts tilled with eand muat be placed
in the precise contra of the table, which should then be
called on to exhibit its skill.

But the day was badly chosen. After we had placed on
the table two buckets, one upon the other, both weighing in
all 143 pounds, it was discovered that we were unable to pro-
duce the levitation. It was necessary for uB to content our-
selves with continuing them in circular movement after
they had been started. The buckets were removed, the tabic
was set in motion, and the buckets replaced while the move-
ment was at its height. They did not arrest it in the least,
but were earried around with such force that the sand flew
out on all sides.

The remainder of the sitting was given up to an investiga-
tion of the subject of (alleged) divination, or guessing.

When the table was asked to gucsa something known to one
of the members of the chain, it pretty frequently and quite
naturally happened that it guessed it. It is the case of
thought-reading by numbers, — nothing more, nothing less.

When it is asked to guess a thing known to a member
of the company who does not form at the time a part of
the chain, it happens sometimes that it guesses it. But
the person in question must be endowed with great fluidic
power and be able to exercise it at a distance. We did not
ourselves obtain anything like this; but others have auc-
<-('ded, and their testimony seems too well established to be
t-alled in question.

Up to the present moment, it is plain, tliere is not the least
(race of divination. It is fluidic action, near-by or distant.

If the tables divine, if they think, if there die spirits, wc
ought to get decisive responses in the case where no one knows
t!ie facts, either in the chain or out of the chain. The prob-
lem thus stated, the solution is not difficult-
Take a book. Do not open it, but invite the table to read

240 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the first line of the page you will designate, — say page 16il
or page 354. The table will not flinch: it will rap, and
will compose words for you. It was thus, at least, that it
always acted with us. At any rate, one thing is certain, that
neither here nor elsewhere, has any spirit, however cunnings
read, this simple line ; nor will it be able in the future to
do so. I recommend the experiment to the partisans of spirit
evocations.

As to the test of pieces of money in a purse, hoiu%
playing-cards etc, the tables betake themselves to a striet
calculation of probabilities ; they guess just as much as you
do, or as I do. Inasmuch as it is a question of small
numbers of which one can form in advance an approximate
idea, the range of possible combinations is not very extensive.
The mind fixes upon a number which has a fairly good
chance of being the true one, and the proportion between
the failures of the table and its successes is in such a case
just what it would be apart from all question of miraoulouB
divination.

Seance of November 9

Before entering upon the description of this sitting, — a
very remarkable one, — I will say that neither the thermome-
ter nor the mariners' compass have furnished the slightest
indication of anything interesting. I thought I ought to
note this, in passing, to show to the reader that we did not
neglect to employ instruments which seemed likely to put
us in the way of obtaining a scientific explanation. In
general, I pass by that phase of our work, as well as the
different trials w^hich remained merely trials, and did not
lead to any positive results.

Our first care was to renew the experiment of the levitation
of an inert weight. It was agreed among us this time that
we would always start from the state of absolute immobility
in the object: we wanted to produce movement, not to con-
tinue it.

The centre of the table, then, having been fixed with nice
precision, a first tub of sand, weighing 46 pounds, was placed
upon it. The legs easily rose from the floor when they got
the order.

EXPESniENTS OF GASPARIN

241

A seeond tul^ weigfaixig 42 pounds, was next placed in the
Buddie of the other. They were both lifted — \qaa eaHily,
bot feiy neatly and elearly.

Then a thiid tub^ amaUer, and weighing 28% pounds, wuh
pheed on top of the two others. The levitations took plan*.

We had still further got ready enormous stones weighing
iltqgether 48% pounds. They were placed on the third tuk
Aft^ rather long hesitation, the table lifted several times in
meeession each of its three legs. It lifted them with a forn*,
I decision^ an £lan, which surprised us. But its strength,
ibeady put to so many proofs, could not resist this last ono.
Bending under the powerful swaying motion imparted by
tbe total mass of 165 pounds, it suddenly broke down, and its
mtasive centre-post was split from top to bottom — to the
great peril of the operators on the side of whom the entire
load rolled off.

I shall not stop to comment on such an experiment. It
answers all demands. Our united muscular force would not
have sufficed to determine the movements that took placo. A
mass of inert matter free from the suspicion of Innng oblig-
ing, had replaced the person whose complicity was liold in
suspicion. Finally, when the three legs had been lifted, each
in turn, critics no longer had as a resource the insinuation
that we had caused the weight to be laid more on one si<lc
than on the other.

Inasmuch as our poor table had been wounded on the fii^ld
of honor and could not be repaired on the spot, wo got a new
one which much resembled it. But it was a little larger and
a little lighter.

The interesting point was to be settled whether wo wore
going to be obliged to wait for it to be charged with the psy-
cho-physical fluid. The occasion was a famous one for solv-
ing this important problem: Where does the fluid* reside?
— in the operators or in the piece of furniture. The solu-
tion was as prompt as it was decisive. Scarcely had our
hands, in chains, been placed upon this second table than it
began to revolve with the most unexpected and the most
comic rapidity ! Evidently, the fluid was in ns, and we were
free to apply it in succession to different tables.

We lost no time. In the mood in which we then were,

242 MTSTEEIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

movement without oontact must succeed better than ever.
Xor did we deceive onrselveB in so thinking. We first devel-
oped rotations without contact to the number of five or six.

As to levitations without contact, we discovered a method
of proceeding that renders their success easier. The chain,
formed a few millimetres above the top disk, is arranged so
as to go in the direction in which the movement is to take
place ; the hands the nearest to the 1^ called on to rise are
outside of and beyond the top ; thej draw near and pass grad-
ually bj, while the hands that are opposite, and ^^ch had
at first advanced toward the same leg, move awaj from
it while they attract it. It is during this progressioii of
the chain, while all our wills are fixed upon a particular spot
on the wood, and when the orders to levitate are fordbly
given, that the foot quits the ground and the table-top follows
the hands, — to the point of upsetting, if one did not keep
hold of it.

This levitation without contact was produced about thirty
times. We produced it by each of the three legs in succes-
sion, in order to remove every pretext for criticism. More-
over, we watched tlie hands with scrupulous care. If the
reader will please observe that this surveillance was exercised
during thirty operations without detecting the slightest con-
tact, I think it will be concluded that the reality is hence-
forth placed beyond all doubt.

Seance of November 21

The chief characteristic of this seance was the absence of
that one of our number who exercised the greatest authority
at the table.* In working without her we were put in a
position to establish two things: first, that one cannot with
impunity do without an extraordinary gifted experimenter;
and, second, that one can, nevertheless, do without him or
her, if it is absolutely necessary, and that success, although
less brilliant in this case, is not impossible. I call special
attention to this last point, as well as to the frequent modifi-
cations of our personnel, for the benefit of suspicious persons
who, not knowing the mental worth of the persons in ques-
tion, might be disposed to place to the account of their dex-

* The lady who soon after was styled *' the medium."

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 243

terity the results to which they essentially contribute. The
psycho-physical working power of a '^ sensitive " table-turner
is of a mixed nature : a resolute posture and a circular move-
ment are not sufficient to give birth to it Besides this, and
above all, there is needed the will.

Our will having at last asserted itself, and muscular pres-
sure having yielded its place to the pressure of commands,
the fluidic rotation arrives, after five or six minutes of con-
centration of our thoughts. We felt, indeed, keenly that
some important person was lacking and that we did not pos-
sess our usual power. However, we were determined to suc-
ceed, even at the price of greater mental fatigue.

So we took up boldly our most difficult feat ; namely, move-
ments without contact. Rotations without touch were ob-
tained thrice. I should add that they were very incomplete,
— a quarter of a turn, or a half-turn at most.

As to levitations without touch our success was more decis-
ive ; but it was purchased at the price of a very considerable
expenditure of force. After each levitation we had to rest,
and, when we had reached No. 9 we were absolutely obliged
to stop, overcome with fatigue. One must have had personal
knowledge of such experiments to understand what drafts
they make upon one's attention and energy, and at what point
it is indispensible to will, and to will peremptorily, that
such and such a knot of wood in the table shall follow the
opened fingers that are alluring it at a distance.

But be that as it may, our attempt was crowned with
success, and we could end the sitting with less exhausting
exercises.

The idea came to us then and there to try our powers on a
large table with four legs. It had often been claimed that
three-legged centre-tables alone would respond to our man-
ipulations. It was time to furnish undeniable proof to the
contrary. So we took a table three feet five inches in di-
ameter, a folding half of which (independent of the leg that
supports it when it is raised) can be turned up at will.

Scarcely were our fingers in place than the table began
a rotation with noisy bustle, the sprightliness of which sur-
prised us. It thus showed that tables with four 1^ were no
more refractory than others. In addition to this, it fur-

244 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

nished a new argument in favor of one of our former observa*
tionSy — that the fluid is in the persons and not in the table&
In fact the movement of the large table took place almost
immediately^ and before it could be considered as charged
with fluid.

The next task before us was to make it give rape with its
different legs. We began with those fastened to one half of
the topy three in number. They rose from the floor two at a
time with such force that at the end of a moment one of the
casters flew to pieces.* Now it is difficult to form an idea
of the intensity which a fraudulent action of the fingers must
have acquired in order to exercise a leverage upon so heavy a
table, and launch it into the air to such a height.

There remained the 1^ of the table which was independ-
ent of the top. We thought it would obey as well as the
others. But no ! In vain did we pour out the most prodi-
gal and pressing invitations: it was never willing to rise,
either along with its right-hand neighbor or with its neighbor
on the left. Our next thought was that this was due to
the persons placed near it, and certain members of the chain
changed seats. In vain ! All combinations failed one after
another.

We drew great deductions from this circumstance. But
since it was refuted later, when the contumacious leg yielded
l;('rfeet obedience at another meeting, I will not take the
l)ul)lic into our confidence by a display of our reasonings on
t!io subject. I will only ask that two things be noted; first,
tlje cnre we took to verify many times the phenomena before
affirming them ; and, second, that we have here once more a
fine refutation of the critics who assert that muscular action
can explain everything. If this were so, why did not muscu-
lar action lift the free leg as w^cll as those fastened tight to the
table ? It could have done so just as easily ; and yet for some
unknown reason, but one evidently foreign to the laws of
mechanics, only the attached legs consented to move.

Seance of November 27

We were in full muster ; but two or three of the operators

were slightly indisposed. On the whole, whatever was the

* This was the onlj table with casters that the operators mado uie ot

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 245

canse, the occasion was scarcely remarkable for anything
except the almost total absence of fluidic power. For a sin-
gle moment we had a little of it A half-hour of action and
two hours and a half of inertia — this was our net result.

Nothing was more lamentable, and at the same time more
curious, than to see us about the different tables, passing
from one to another, enjoining them to do the most elemen-
tary things, and only obtaining a weak and languid rotation,
which soon stopped altogether.

Seance of December 2

I should have been vexed to have to close my recital with
80 dull and spiritless a record as the preceding one. By
good fortune the last of our reports gives me the right to leave
a totally different impression on the reader's mind.

We were in fine temper. Perhaps the beautiful weather
helped. It is not the first time I have noticed this. What is
certain is that the very same persons who, on November 27,
had only a half-hour of success and had passed the rest of
the sitting in beseeching in vain for anything better than poor
abortive rotations or faint raps, to-day governed the table with
an authority, a quickness, and, if I may so put it, an elasticity
of bearing that left nothing to be desired.

The large table with four legs was set in motion. And
this time, the ease with which the free leg lifted its share
of the table proved that we were right in not drawing too
definite conclusions from its former refusal. Every time
that we tried to lift without contact that part of the table
the farthest removed from myself I felt the table-leg nearest
me gradually approach and press against my leg. Struck
with this occurrence, which took place several times I drew
the conclusion that the table was gliding forward, not having
enough force to rise. We were, then, exercising a percepti-
ble influence on this large table without touching it in any
way.

In order the better to assure myself of it, I left the chain
and observed the movement of the feet of the table on the
floor. It ranged from fractions of an inch to several inches.
When we then tried to turn up without contact the folding
leaf of a gaming-table covered with cloth, we obtained

246 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the same result : the folding leaf would not yield to our in-
fluence, but the entire table advanced in the direction of the
prescribed movement. Now, I ought to add that the gliding
was not at all easy, for the floor of our room was rough and
uneven.

It is interesting to note in this connection the moment
when this gliding movement ordinarily begins. It occurs at
precisely the same time that the levitation without contact
takes place when that manifestation is in process. When the
portion of the chain which is pushing on has just advanced
beyond the side of the table-top, where it begins to turn, and
when that portion of the chain that is pulling has just
cros^d the middle point in its recession, then the ascen-
sional movement — or, in default of that, the gliding motion
— manifests itself. Our fluidic power is then at its maxi-
mum, precisely at the instant when our mechanical power is
at its minimum, when the hands that are pushing have ceased
to act (supposing the case of fraud) and when the hands that
pull are powerless to act.

Lot us now revert to our ordinary table. We tried to pro-
duce rotations and levitations without contact, and had com-
plete success.

Such reports as the foregoing are of more value than all
the dissertations. They show the undeniable reality of the
levitation not total, but partial, — of the table which re
mained in an oblique position poised on two legs only. They
show also rotations and levitations without contact^ as well as
glidings under the influence of a natural force hitherto only
slightly studied.

Levitations of a heavy table, having on it a man weighing
191 pounds, or of tubs of sand and stones weighing 165
pounds, — no denial of these occurrences can be admitted.

The same is true of the movements of the table danciiisf
in accordance with the rhythm of certain airs, of its ove^
turnings, of its obedience to the orders given. These facts
have been observed precisely as mechanical, physical, chem-
ical, meteorological, astronomical facts have been observed-

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 247

To tfae above reports I will add here a supplementary ex-
periment deecribed in the preface of Count de Gasparin'g
book:

Certain distinguished savants to whom I had communi-
cated the results we had secured, agreed in assuring me that
levitations without contact would have the character of ab-
solute certain proof if we succeeded in verifying them by
the following practical device : " Sprinkle flour upon the
table," they said, " at the instant your hands have just left
it; then produce one or more levitations; finally assure your-
selves that the layer of flour bears not tlie slightest sign of
any touch, and all objectors will be dumb."

Why, it is precisely this experiment that we have per-
formed auccessfuUy several times. Let me give a few de-
tails:

Our first trial had succeeded very badly. We used a
coarse sieve which we had to move to and fro over the entire
table. This produced the double inconvenience; first, of sus-
pending too loug, and so of nullifying the action of the
operators; and, secondly, of spreading a layer of flour much
too thick. The buoyant spring and impulse of the wills of
the operators was abated, the fluidic action was thwarted, the
table-top got chilled down, so to speak ; nothing moved. The
mischief went so far that the tnble not only refused us levi-
tations and rotations without contact, but almost all the or-
dinary ones.

Then a brilliant idea came to one of us. We possessed one
of those bellows used in blowing sulphur upon vines attacked
by the grape-mildew. In place of sulphur, we put flour
into it, and, so prepared, began the test.

The conditions were most favorable. The weather was
dry and warm, the table went leaping under our fingers,
and, indeed, before the order to lift hands had been given,
tbe greater part of the band of us had spontaneously ceased
to touch the table-top. Then the command rings out; the
'whole chain lifts up from the table, and at the same instant
tfae bellows covers its entire surface with a light dusting of
flour. Not a second had been lost; the levitation without

248 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

contact had already taken place. But to leave no doubt, the
thing was repeated three or four times in succession.

That done, the table was scrupulously examined ; no finger
had touched it, or even grazed it in the slightest degree.

The fear of grazing it involuntarily had even been so great
that the hands had acted fluidically from a height much
greater than in previous sittings. Each one had thought he
could not raise his hands too high, and the hands removed
to such a distance from the top, had not had recourse to any
of the manoeuvres or passes of which we had at other times
made use. Keeping its place, above the table to be lifted,
the chain had preserved its form intact ; it had made hardly a
perceptible motion in the direction of the movement it was
producing at a distance from the table.

I will add, finally that we did not content ourselves with
a single experience. A careful inspection following each of
several levitations, always showed that the dust-like layer
of flour was absolutely untouched; and no portion of the
table had escaped its tell-tale coat of white.

The author of these reports himself estimates as follows
the results he has recorded:

The phenomena observed confirm and elucidate each
other. Large four-legged tables compete with three-legged
ones. Inert weights, placed on these, come forward as sub-
stitutes for persons suspected of giving a helping hand to the
table charged with the task of lifting them. At last the
great discovery arrives in its turn: we begin by continuing
without contact movements already initiated, and we end by
producing them; we succeed almost in creating the process,
to such an extent that these extraordinary facts manifest
themselves sometimes in an uninterrupted series of fifteen
or thirty performances. The glidings round out the subject
by throwing light on one phase of action at a distance: they
reveal it as powerless (at times) to lift the table, but able to
draw it along over the floor.

Such is the rapidly sketched account of our progress.
Taken just by itself alone, it constitutes a solid proof and I
recommend a study of it to serious men. It is not thus that

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 249

error proceeds. Illusioiis originating in accident, or chance,
do not thus resist a long study, and do not pass unmasked
through a long series of experiments that justify them more
and more.

The reading of numbers in others' minds, and the bal-
ance of forces, merit special consideration.

When all the operators but one are ignorant of the number
to be materialized by raps, the operation (unless it is fluidic)
ought to proceed either from the person who knows the num-
ber and furnishes at once the movement and the arrest, or
else it ought to proceed from a relation instinctively estab-
lished between that person who furnishes the arrest and his
vis-a-vis who furnishes the movement. Let us examine both
hypotheses.

The first is untenable; for, in the case where some one
chooses a leg of the table upon which the operator who knows
the number can exercise no muscular action, the leg thus
designated none the less rises at his command.

The second is untenable; for, in the case where some one
indicates a zero, the movement which ought to take place
does not do so. Nay more. If you place at loggerheads two
persons placed on opposite sides of the table and enjoin each
to make a different number triumph, the more powerful
operator secures the execution of the chief ijumber although
his vis-a-vis is interested not only in not furnishing it to him,
but in arresting it.

I know that this matter of the divining of nimibers thought
of is in bad odor. It lacks a certain pedantic and scientific
form. Yet I have not hesitated to insist on it; for there
are few experiments in which is better manifested the mixed
character of the phenomenon, — physical power developed
and applied outside of ourselves by the effect of our will.
Just because it forms the great offense, or stumbling block, I
am unwilling to be shame-faced about it. I maintain, be-
sides that this is just as scientific as anything else. True
science is not tied to the employment of such and such a
process or such and such an instrument. That which a fluid-
ometer would show would be no less scientifically demon-
strated than what is seen with the eyes and estimated by the
reason.

S50 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

Let U8 go oily bowerer. We have not yet reached the end
of our proofs. One of these hae always especially struck
me : I mean the proof derived from f ailnres.

It is claimed that the movements are produced by the
action of our musdes, by involuntary pressure. Now here
are the same operators who yesterday secured from the
table the fulfihnent of their most capricious desires; their
muscles are as strong^ their vivacity is as great, their desire
to succeed is perhaps keener — and yet nothing I absolutely
nothing I A whole hour will pass without the least rotation
beginning; or, if there are rotations, levitationa axe im-
possible to procure ; what little is done by the table ia done
feebly, dismally, and as if reluctantly. I repeat it again,
the muscles have not changed; then why this sudden inca-
pacity t The cause remaining identically the same, whence
comes it that the effect varies to such a degree t

" Ah I ** says an objector, " you are talking of involuntary
pressure, and say nothing about voluntary pressure, of fraud,
in short. Don't you see that the cheaters may be present at
one sitting and not appear at another, that they may act
one day and not give themselves the trouble on the next f "

I will reply very simply, and by facts.

" The cheaters are absent when we do not succeed ! *'
But it has happened many a time that our personnel has
not been changed in any way. The same persons, abso-
lutely the same, have passed from a state of remarkable
power to a state of comparative impotence. And that is not
all. If there exists no operator whose presence has pre-
served us from failures^ no more does any exist whose ab-
sence has rendered us incapable of success. With and
without each one of the members of the chain we have suc-
ceeded in performing all the experiments, — all without ex-
ception.

But ^ the cheaters do not take so much pains every day t '
The pains would be great indeed, and those who infer fraud
little think what prodigies they are invoking. The accusa-
tion is an absurdity which verges on silliness, and its silliness
removes its sting. One does not take offense at things like
that. But come now, let us suppose for the moment that
yalleyres were peopled with disciples of Boaco, that pree^

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPAEIN 251

tidigitation were generally practised there, and that it had
been thrust under our very eyes for five months, and under
the eyes of numerous and very suspicious witnesses without
a single case of perfidy having been pointed out We have
so well concealed our game that we have invented a secret
tel^raphic code for the experiment of reading numbers, a
particular turn of the finger for moving the most enormous
masses, a method of gradually lifting tables that we do not
seem to touch. We are all liars, all ; for we have been mu-
tually watching each other for a long time now, and do not
denounce anybody. Nay, more, the contagion of our vices
is so swift to take that, as soon as we admit a stranger, a
hostile witness, into the chain, he becomes our accomplice;
he voluntarily closes his eyes to the transmission of signals,
to muscular efforts, to the repeated and prolonged suspicious
actions of his next neighbors in the chain ! Well and good ;
suppose we grant all that, we shall not have got farther along
for that. It will still remain to be explained why our cheat-
ers sometimes do nothing at the very moment when it would
be to their interest to succeed. It has happened, indeed, that
a certain sitting at which we had many witnesses and a
great desire to convince turned out to be a mediocre one.
Such and such another, under the same conditions, was, on
the contrary, a brilliant success.

There you have real and important inequalities, and they
dare to talk to us of muscular action and of fraud.

Fraud and muscular action ! Here for instance is a fine
opportunity to put them to the proof. We have just placed
a weight on the table. This weight is inert and cannot
be accessory to any device. Fraud is all aroimd it perhaps,
but it is not in the tubs of sand. This weight is equally
divided among the three legs of the table, and they are
going to prove it by each one rising in turn. The total
load weighs 165 pounds, and we scarcely dare to increase it,
for, as it is, it was enough, one day, to break our very
solid table. Very well; now let someone try to move this
weight. Since muscular action and fraud must explain
everything, it will be easy for them to put the mass in
motion. Now they cannot do it. Their fingers contract
and the knuckles whiten without their obtaining a single

252 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

levitation, whereas, some moments later, levitations will
take place at the touch of the same fingers, which gently
graze the table's top and make no effort at all, as any one
may easily convince himself.

Certain very ingenious scientific rules of measurement, for
the invention of which I cannot claim the credit, put us in
the way of translating into figures the effort which the rota-
tion or levitation of the table demands, when loaded in the
way just described. With the above-mentioned weight of
165 pounds, rotation is secured by means of a lateral trac-
tion of about 17V^ pounds, while levitation is only obtained
by a perpendicular pressure of 132 pounds at least (which
I will reduce, however, to 110, in deference to the presumed
wishes of the critic, and on the supposition that the pressure
might not be absolutely vertical). Several deductions are
to be drawn from these figures.

In the first place, muscular action may cause the table
to turn, but it cannot lift it. As a matter of fact, the ten
operators have one hundred fingers applied to its surface.
Now, the vertical, or quasi-vertical, pressure of each finger
cannot exceed twelve ounces on the average, the chain being
composed as it is. They only develop, then, a total pressure
of 60 pounds, which is quite insuflBcient to produce levita-
tion.

In the next place, this striking thing befalls, that the phe-
nomenon which muscular action could easily produce is pre-
cisely the one tliat we most rarely and with the greatest
difficulty obtain, and that the phenomenon which muscular
action could not compass is the one the most habitually real-
ized when the chain is formed. Why does not our invol-
untary impulse always make the table turn? Why should
not our ^' fraud " always procure such a triumph ? Why,
as a general thing, do we only succeed in effecting that
which is mechanically impossible ?

I advise people who like to make fun of table-turnings
not to investigate them too closely, and to beware of giving
too careful attention to our supreme demonstration, — that
of movements without contact, for it will leave them not the
slightest pretext for incredulity.

Thus the fact is established. Multiplied experiments,

EXPERIMENTS OF JJASPAEIN 253

diverse and irrefutable proofs, which are, moreover, joined
in the closest solidarity, give to the fluidic action the stamp
of complete certainty. Those who have had the patience
to follow me thus far will have felt their suspicions vanish-
ing one after another, and their faith in the new phenomenon
more and more strengthened. They will have made good
what we ourselves have substantiated and made good; for
no one has opposed more difGculties to table-turning than
have we, no one has shown himself more inquisitorial and
exacting respecting them.

It is not our fault if the results have been conclusive (and
more and more so), nor ours the blame if they have recip-
rocally confirmed each other, if they have ended by forming
one body and taking on the character of perfect evidence.
To study, to compare, to repeat and repeat again, and to
finally exclude all that admits of doubt or question — this
was our duty. Nor have we failed to perform it. I make
no affirmations in these reports which I have not proved
over and over again.

Such are the memorable experiments of the Count de Gas-
parin. Their worth will be appreciated by all who read
them. I have been anxious to reproduce these careful re-
ports; for they establish of themselves the absolute and un-
deniable reality of these movements that contradict the nor-
mal law of gravitation. Let us hear the Count's explanatory
hypotheses.

The reader will have noticed the care I have taken to
confine myself to the verification of the facts, without
hazarding any explanatory hypothesis. If I have employed
the word " fluid/' it was to avoid circumlocutions. Strict
scientific precision would have demanded that I always
write " the fluid, the force, or physical agent whatever it may
be." I shall be pardoned for having been a little less exact
than this in my language. It was enough that my thought
was perfectly clear. That we have to do with a fluid, prop-
erly so called, in the phenomena of Table turning and lift-
ing I cannot absolutely affirm. I affirm that there is an

aS4 MYSTERIOUS PSrCHIC FORGES

agenty and that this agent i$ not supemaiuralj that it u
p&y^icaZ^ imparting to physical objects the movements whidi
our will determines.

Our will| 1 have said And this is in fact the fonda-
mental idea we have gathered out of this subject of a physi-
cal agent It is this which characterizes it, and it is this also
whidi compromises it in the eyes of a good many f olka. They
mighty perhaps, be resigned to a new agent, if it were the
necessary and exclusive product of the hands foxming the
chain, if only it were true that certain poeitiona or certain
acts insured its manifestation. But this is not the case
with it : the mental and the physical must combine in older
to give it birth. Here are hands that tire themselves oat
in forming the chain, and yet obtain no movement : the will
has not b^n mingled in the act. Here is a will that com-
mands in vain: the hands have not been placed in a suit-
able position.

We have thrown light upon both these sides of the phe-
nomenon, for they are both cssentiaL

Another fact has been noted by us, and ought to enter
into a description of the physical agent in question: this
agent inheres in the persons and not in the table. Let the
operators, when they are in rapport, pass to a new table and
encircle it : they will be able immediately to exercise all their
authority over it; their will will continue to dispose of the
physical agent and to make use of it for rapping numbers
mentally selected by persons present or for producing move-
ments without contact.

Such are the facts. The explanation of them will come
later. It is, however, very natural to want to find this at
once, and to make hypotheses which may be regarded
as possible, if not true. I have taken the risk of
doing this, and I do not repent of it. Was it not im-
perative to prove to our opponents that they have not even
the pretext of " a scientific impossibility '' ? Hypotheses
have their legitimate place and their utility, even if they
are incorrect. If they are admissible in themselves, that
is sufficient, for that defends the facts to which they are
applied from the accusation of monstrosity. The critic has
no longer the right to demand the previous question.

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 255

Seeing that it was asked for on all sides, I have risked
the following statement :

You assert that our pretensions are false, for the simple
reason that they cannot be true! Very welL But, at all
events, allow me to lay before you certain postulates. Sup-
pose, in the first place, that you do not know everything,
that the moral and even the material nature of man have
obscurities which you have not been able to remove. Sup-
pose that the smallest blade of grass springing up in the
field, that the smallest grain reproducing its kind, that the
finger of your hand in the act of executing the order you
give it, enclose mysteries that surpass the powers of the
learned doctors to fathom, and which they would declare
absurd if they were not compelled to recognize them as real.
Then, in the second place, suppose that certain men who will
so to do, and whose hands are joined one to another in a
certain way, give birth to a fluid or to a special kind of
force. I do not ask you to admit that such force exists;
you will only agree with me that it is possible. There is
no natural law opposed to it that I know of.

Now, let us take one more step. The will disposes of
this fluid. It gives an impulse to external objects only
when we will it, and in quarters selected by us. Would
there be anything impossible in this? Is it an unheard-
of thing that we transmit movement to matter that is out-
side of ourselves? Why, we do so every day, and every
instant ; our mechanical action is nothing more or less than
this. The horrible thing in your eyes doubtless is that we
do not act mechanically! But there is something besides
mechanical action in this world. There are physical causes
of movement that are something else than this. The caloric
that penetrates a living body produces dilatation there; that
is to say, universal movement. The loadstone placed in
the neighborhood of a piece of iron attracts it, and makes
it leap across the intervening space.

" Yes," some one will exclaim, " we should make no ob-
jection, provided your pretended fluid did not obey one spe-
cial direction in its progress. If it went straight on, as
a blind force, well and good! It would then be like the
caloric, that dilates everything it meets in its passage. It

256 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

would be like the magnet which attracts indiscrimiiiatel;
toward a fixed point all the particles of iron in its vicinity.
As for you, your invention of the theory of a rotative fluid
calls vividly to mind the explanation of the dormitive prop-
erties of opium."

It is impossible to more completely misunderstand things
No one dreams of a ^' rotative fluid." All we maintain is,
that, when the fluid is emitted and imparts either repul-
sion or lateral attraction to a piece of furniture resting on
legs, a very simple mechanical law transforms the lateral
action into rotation.

I do not say, '^ The tables turn because my fluid is ro-
tative." I say, " The tables turn, because, when they re-
ceive an impelling force or imdcrgo an attraction, they can-
not help turning." Stated in this way, it is a little less naive.
Consequently, I should be under no obligation to undertake
the cause of the poor university scholar of the Malade
Imaginaire, and defend his famous reply : " Opium facil
dormire quia est in eo virtus dormitiva " (" opium puts
people to sleep because it has the sleep-producing virtue
or property"). Nevertheless, I can't help it, out it must
come: I find the reply an excellent one. I doubt whether
the savants have found a better one to this day, and I ad-
vise them to resign themselves sometimes to the following
kind of reasoning : '* Opium puts us to sleep because it
puts us to sleep; things are because they are." In other
words, I see the facts and do not know the causes. I do not
know. " I do not know ! " terrible words, which one finds
difficulty in pronouncing ! Now, I suspect very strongly that
the sly roguislmess of Molicre is for the benefit of the doc-
tors, who pretend to know everything, invent explanations
which do not explain, and do not know how to accept the
facts while waiting for more light.

But there is more to come. The hypothesis of the fluid
(a pure hypothesis, remember) must still prove that it is a
hypothesis reconcilable with the different circumstances of
the phenomenon. The table does not merely turn: it lifts
its legs up, it raps numbers mentally indicated to it; in a
word, it obeys the will, and obeys it so well that the removal
of contact does not terminate its obedience. The impelling

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPARIN 257

force or lateral attraction which account for rotations cannot
account for levitations.

But why? Because the will directs the fluid now into
one leg of the table, now into another. Because the table
identifies itself with us, after a fashion, becomes a limb of
our own body, and produces movements thought of by us in
the same manner as our arm produces them. Because we
have no conscious knowledge of the direction imparted to
the fluid, and govern the movements of the table without
imagining that any kind of fluid or force whatever is in
action.

In all our acts, in all without exception, we have no con-
sciousness of the direction imparted by our will. When
you explain to me how I lift my hand, I will explain to you
how I make the table-leg rise from the floor. I " willed to
raise my hand." Yes, and I also willed to lift this table-
leg. As for the executing of the mandates of the will, the
putting into play of the muscles required to lift the hand,
or of the fluid-power required to lift the table-leg, I have
no knowledge of what passes in me apropos of this.
Strange mystery, and one which ought to inspire in us a
little modesty! There is in me an executive power, a
power of such a nature that, when I have willed such or
such an act, it addresses detailed orders to the different
muscles and sets in motion a hundred complicated move-
ments to bring about a final result which has been merely
thought of, merely willed. That miracle goes on within me,
and I understand it not at all, and never shall imderstand
it. Do you not agree that the same executive power can
give to the fluid the directions it gives to the muscles? I
have willed to play a sonata on the piano, and, unknown to
me, something within me has given orders to hundreds of
thousands of muscular acts. I have willed that the leg of
this table should be lifted up, and, unknown to me, some-
thing within me has directed the attractions and impulsions
of the fluid to the designated place.

The hypothesis of a fluid is, then, defensible. It accords
with the nature of things and with the nature of man. I
have no wish to go farther and furnish at once a definitive
explanation. But I am not worrying. Let the facts once

2S8 KYSTEBIOUS PSTCHIO FOBOES

be admitted, and explanations will not be wanting. Whit
seems impossible now will seem very simple then. About
incontestable things no trouble is made. We are so oon*
stituted that, after we have asserted the impossibility of
everything we do not comprehend, we deolaie oampiehensi-
ble all that we have reoog^iized as reaL People are evei;^
where to be met with who shrug their shoulders when you
speak to them of table-turnings and who make nothing of
the Puck-like performance of the electric current in putting
the girdle of its circuit around the earth in the fraction <rf
a moment, and who find the miracle of the transmission of
the mental and moral qualities of the others to the diildnn
a very simple thing to imderstandl The taUes of the
psychic experimenter cannot escape the common lot. Their
phenomena, absurd to-day, are to-morrow self-evident.

These experiments of Count de Gasparin and his associ-
ates have been known for over half a centuty, and it is really
incomprehensible that even the fact of the levitation of tables
and of their movements has continued to be denied. Verily,
if the tables are sometimes light, it must be confessed that
the human race is a little heavy.

As to the theory, the hypothesis of the fluid, — feUx qui
potuit rerum cognoscere causae (Happy the man who can
know the cause of things) — I shall return to this mat-
ter in the chapter on explanatory theories. But it is incon-
testable that, in such experiences, we act by means of an
invisible force emanating from us. One must be blind not
to admit that.

After a series of experiments so admirably conducted we
can understand that the author might well be allowed to
indulge in a little derision of obstinately prejudiced unbe-
lievers. In closing this chapter, I cannot forego the pleas-
ure of citing Count de Gasparin apropos of the learned
negations of Babinet and his emulators of the Institute.

The savants are not the only ones to stand on their dig-

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPABIN 259

nitj. I also stand on mine, and I make bold to think that
a certificate signed with mj name would not be rated by
anybody as a piece of impoature or &ivolity. It is known
that I am in the habit of weighing my words; it is known
that I love the truth, and that I will not sacrifice it on any
consideration ; it is known that I prefer to admit an error
rather than persist in it ; and when, after a longKiontinued
inquiry, I persist with a firmer and profounder conviction
than ever, the import or scope of the declaration I make a
not to be misapprehended.

I can tell you, in the next place, that the testimony of
the eyes has, in my opinion, a scientific value. Inde-
pendently of instruments and figures, on which I set the
highest values, I believe that the true seeing of things
may serve. I believe that this also is of itself an instru-
ment. If a sufficient number of good pairs of eyes have as-
certained and proved, ten, twenty, a hundred times, that a
table is put in motion without contact; if, furthermore, the
explanation of the fact by fraudulent or involuntary con-
tacts passes the limits which must be assigned to incredulity,
the conclusion is clear. Nobody is warranted in crying out :
" You have neither fluidometer nor alembic ; you do not give
a specimen of your physical agent in a bottle ; you do not
describe how it acts upon a column of mercury or upon the
dip of a needle. We don't believe you, for you have done
nothing but see."

" I do not believe you because you have done nothing
but see ! " " I do not believe you because I have not seen
with my own eyes ! " So many pedants, so many objec-
tions. They hardly take the trouble to agree among them-
selves; in a war waged against the tables any weapon is
fair, nothing comes amias,

I do not wish to forget that scientists were still talking
only of rotations at the moment when Faraday invented his
disks.* In the presence of a phenomenon so inadequate,
and, let us admit it, so suspicious, we can understand how

'The allusion is to Paradajr'a explanation of Arago's dispoverr in
the nafcnetiam of rotation. Faraday ehowed that a rotating dialc of
aon-tnagnetic metal would draw after it in similar rotation a magnetic
needle Bnapendpd over it, and even a heavy magnet. See ProteMor
Tyndall'a Faraday aa a Diieoverer, pp. 25, 2a. — TranM.

260 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the savants showed themselves sceptical and contented them-
selves with flimsy refutations. They proportioned the num-
her and size of their weapons to the appearance of the
enemy. The one among them who showed the most pene
tration, and who proposed the most plausible explanation,
is most assuredly Chevreul. His theory of the tendency
to movement is incontestably true. It explains how the
objects we suspend from our finger finally take a vibratory
movement in the direction indicated by our wilL I am not
astonished that some have thought this theory suflScient to
explain how experimenters can, in the end, impart a rota-
tion to the table and participate in the movement them-
selves. I need not say that our proved levitationa of
weights, and our movements without contact, will not hence-
forth permit anyone to take refuge in such an explanation.
If all the tendencies to movement were united into one
they would not be able to produce at a distance an impelling
power, nor move a mans that mechanical action could not
set in motion.

Really, the learned doctors ought not to throw out to the
public these explanations which do not explain. They
ought rather to get to work and show us, in fact, how to
set about the lifting directly and mechanically of a weight
of 220 pounds without applying to the task a force of 220
pounds.

But they prefer to use insulting expressions, and then
proceed to invent some theory or other which has only one
little fault — that it has no legs to walk with. The recent
article of M. Babinet in the Revue des Deux Mondes is a
masterpiece in its way. If I needed to be convinced of
the reality of the phenomena of table-turning, etc., I should
most assuredly have been convinced by the reading of this
refutation of it.

In the opinion of M. Babinet, the phenomena of the tables
offer no difficulty whatever! Happy science of physics,
happy science of mechanics which has an answer ready for
everything! We poor, ignorant fellows thought we had
detected something extraordinary, and did not know we were
merely obeying two extremely elementary laws, — the law
of unconscious movements, and, above all, that of nascent

EXPERIMENTS OF QASPAMN 261

movements, movements the power of which seems to sur-
pass that of developed movements.

As far as regards unconscious movements, M. Babinet
adds nothing to previous explanations — nothing but the
story of that lord (an English lord, he says) whose horse
was so admirably trained that it seemed as if it were only
necessary for one to think the movement one wished to have
him execute, and he instantly realized it. I am thoroughly
convinced, as is M. Babinet, that the aforesaid lord gave
an impulse to the bridle without suspecting it, and I am
just as thoroughly convinced that the experimenters whose
hands are touching a table may exert a pressure of which
they are not conscious. Only — I think there should be
some proportion between the cause and the effect Suppose
the movements are unconscious: they are none the less
vigorous for all that. The burden is upon M. Babinet
and his followers, to prove that the very same fingers that
in vain clench themselves till they are stiff in the endeavor
to lift a weight of eighty-eight pounds, will lift double this
weight by simply being unconscious that they are making
any effort

My honorable and learned opponent will not hear of
movements obtained without contact " Everything that
has been said about action exercised at a distance ought
to be banished to the realm of fiction." The judgment is
curt and summary. Movements without contact are a fic-
tion, — first because they are impossible; secondly because
powdered soapstone has hindered the rotation of a table;
and, finally, because perpetual movement is impossible.

Movements at a distance are impossible! To be strictly
logical, M. Babinet ought to have stopped there, remem-
bering the reply made by Henry IV to the magistrates who
had thus begun an address to him:

" We did not give a salute of cannon on the approach
of Your Majesty, and that for three good reasons. In the
first place, because we had no cannon — "

" That reason is sufficient," said the king.

We are fain to believe that M. Babinet himself has lit-
tle doubt about his " impossibility." He has acted wisely
in doing so; for this impossibility is based entirely on a

262 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

yicioufl circle of reasoniiig. ** Is there a single known ex-
ample of movement produced without a force acting from
the outside t Na Well, movement at a distance wonld
very plainly take place by an active external force. There-
fore movement at a distance is impoesible." I feel veiy
much disposed to say to M. Babinet, in the technical lan-
guage of the schools, that his major premise ia tme and
that his conclusion would be legitimate if his minor were
not purely and simply a b^ging of the question. Yoa
claim that there is no active force exterior to the table
which lifts it without the touch of the hands. But that is
precisely the point at issue between us. A fluid is an ex-
ternal active force. It is handy for my critiC| indeed, to
b^n by establishing this axiom. Now (he says), there is
no fluid, or analogous physical agent, in the case of the
tables ; therefore there is no effect produced.

The learned gentlemen, Faraday, Babinet, and others, do
not limit themselves to objections derived from nascent or
unconscious movements, small causes producing great effects.
They have still another method of proceeding. If an ex-
periment has succeeded it has no longer any value. Oh,
if one could succeed in performing such another experiment,
well and good ! But this would not hinder the new experi-
ment from becoming insignificant in its turn and giving
place to a new desideratum. The phrasing nms somewhat
in this way:

" You are doing such and such a thing. Very well ; but
now let us see you do a different thing. You are employ-
ing such or such a method ; be pleased to be contented with
those which we prescribe you. To succeed in your way ia
not enough; you must succeed in ours. Your way is not
scientific; it runs contrary to the traditions. We shut the
door in the face of facts if they do not come in the r^ula-
tion claw-hammer coat of full dress. We shall pay no
attention to your experiments if our experimental apparatus
does not figure in them."

Strange way of verifying and establishing the results of
experiments! You begin by changing the conditions un-
der which they are produced. You might as well say to the
man who has seen the harvesting of barley in Upper Egypt

EXPERIMENTS OF QASPAMN 268

in January, '^ I will believe it when I see it done before my
eyes in Bourgogne." One can understand, of course, bow an
unreasonable and troublesome fastidiousness might be shown
r^arding travellers' tales. But scientific experiments are
of another character. In the presence of facts so evident,
it is almost incredible that they wish to impose upon us
instruments, needles, and mechanical devices. The idea
of introducing hecauses and therefores into an investiga-
tion in which the real nature of the acting force is a mys-
tery to all the world !

Polemical essays are not scientific studies. In general,
they are the direct opposite. When persons who have seen
nothing, who have not devoted any considerable portion of
their energy and time to experimentation, who have pei-
haps been present only at some ridiculous rotations of
centre-tables, take their pen in hand for the purpose of ex-
posing theories or giving lofty reprimands to experimenters,
I do not look at them in the light of scientific students.

I am convinced that a man never really studies that which
he declares a priori to have no sense in it. If attacks are
studies, there is no lack of them, and (I may add) never
will be. At the time when the Academy of Medicine buried
the report of M. Husson and published what everybody in
Europe persisted in calling a refusal to examine, there was
issued every morning a paper against magnetism; every
morning some new writer vociferated that the partisans of
magnetism were imbeciles, and proposed an explanatory
system of his own. If you call that making a study, then
I grant that they have studied table-turnings, for there
certainly has been no dearth of insults and of theories about
these phenomena. They have received every attention, ex-
cept that no one was willing to inspect, experiment, listen,
and read.

Twice, a month apart, the Institute has announced (with-
out protest from anybody whatever) to the students of table-
turnings that it was shelving papers relating to that topic;
that it was not obliged to occupy itself with nonsense ; that
there was a place in its archives for lucubrations of that
kind ; namely, the place to which were consigned papers on
perpetual motion.

264 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC K)BCES

Ohy Moli&re ! why are you not present with us t Bnt^ in
reality, you are here. Your genius has limned with
ineffaceable lines that everlasting disease of venerable big-
wigs and mouldy specialists, — disdain of the laity, respect
for their fellow-members, idolatry of the past A moat sin-
gular deformity, this I And it appears in all ages, in vari-
ous disguises, in the midst of all branches of human activ-
ity, now in Uie name of religion, now in that of medidne,
and again in the name of science or of art Yes, even mur-
viving the wreck of revolutions which spare nothings ap-
pearing even within the walls of learned academies the
members of which write for the furtherance of the great
movements of modem progress, one thing remains, — the
spirit of partisanship, of cliques, the spirit of tradition, the
superstitious regard for forms.

- Really, it would seem as if people must be still taking
Bible oaths like those in the baccalaureate ceremony at the
end of Moli^re's Malade Imaginaire. M. Foucault is fond
of this scene, and will therefore not take it ill if I recall to
his mind a couple of stanzas :

Essere in omnibiis

Consultationibv^s
Ancieni aviso.

Aid bono,
Aut mauvaiso,

— JUBO !

De non jamais te servire
De remediis aJcunis
Quam de ceux soulement doctoB facultatis,
Maladus dut-il crevare,
Et mori de suo malo.
— JuRO ! *

*The long scene from which this is taken in Moli^re is so full of
Italian, Old French, and dog Latin, that it has not been translated by
Van Laun. All but the last word (/tiro) of each stanza is spoken by
the big-wigs in this mock examination of a baccalaureate medical stu-
dent; that word is his:

"Do you swear that in all consultations you will be of the ancient
opinion, whether it be good or bad?" — ^*'I swear it." — ^"To never make

EXPERIMENTS OF GASPABIN S6S

If yoQ don't call that a refusal to examine, I doa't know
what tlie words mean in good Prench.

With rach ingenious candor and with Buch authority did
the Count Ag&ior de Gaaparin ezpreaa himself in the year
1854. It seems to me that the exjtcriinents made known in
this volnme famish abundant evidence that he is right.

Yet I have still friends, at the Institute, who smile with
the utmoet scorn when I ask their opinion on the phenomena
of the levitation of tables, the movement of objects without
perceptible cause, nnesplained noises in bannted houses,
communication of thought at a distance, premonitoiy dreams,
and apparitions of the dying. Although these unexplained
phenomena have undeniably been proved to be facts of oc-
currence, those learned friends of mine remain ctmvinoed
that " such things as that are impossible."

UM of mj remedies exMpt thoie of the lunwd bcnHr of
ev«n should the patient bnrst and die of hia diieaMl " — 'l •«

CHAPTER Vn

THS RESEABCIIES OF PBOFESSOS THOBT

The insTifficii^nt cxplanationa of Che\Teul and of Faraday,
the Boientifio m'gations of Babiiiet, the conscientious t^xperi-
menta of the Count de Qasparin had led several scientists to
atody the qaestion from the purely scipntific point of view.
Among them was a highly-gifted savant whom I visited at
Geneva,— M. Uarc Tbury, professor of natural history and
of tstronomy in the Academy of that d^. We are in-
debted to him for a remarkable and little known mon<^raph,*
which it is my duty to condense for this volume.

When we were in the presence of new phenomena (writes
Thury) there was only one alternative :

First, either to reject, in the name of common sense and
of the results acquired by science, all the pretended phe-
nomena of tables as so many childish sports unworthy of
taking up the time of the true scientist or scholar, since, on
the very face of it, their absurdity is evident; in abort, to
let the matter drop by refusing to give it serious attention.

Or, second, to make a determined examination of it at
whatever cost, to study the fact in its details in order
to lay fully open all the sources of illusion by which the
public is duped, separate the true from the false, and throw
a strong light on all aspects of the phenomenon, physical,
physio1<^cal, and psychological, in order that the matter
may be so superabundantly clear and evident that no fur-
ther excuse for doubt may remain.

'"I'M Tablet t<mrnmtte»" etmiidiria tut point de ««« de la (NM-
Mmi 49 phj/tiqu* g4ti4rat« qui «'y rattacha, Qvnive, 18SB.
266

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 267

Superfluous to saj, the last method is the one adopted by
Thuiy (as it was bj Gasparin). He considers it to be the
only suitable^ efficient, and legitimate method.

Darkness saps the strength of science. Its strongest hold
lies in bringing everything out into the full light of day.
Here, then, lies the question: In these curious phenomena
of the tables, is the explanation so clear that you can lay
a finger on the causes of illusion and clearly show that
there is in them no new and unknown element at work!

I do not think (replies the Genevan professor) that we
have attained to that degree of evidence. I wish only one
proof, the explanation of what has already been attempted.

If, then, it is well established that the common explana-
tion is not self-evident, in the eyes of all intelligent and
sensible men, there remains a task to do, a duty owed to
science, — that of throwing full light upon the phenomenon
in question ; and this task cannot be exchanged for the easier
cue of treating with irony or disdain those who have gone
astray in the path that Science refused to illuminate.

The savants are, however, excusable for not going too quick
(let us admit with Thury).

What! a perturbative force lurking, by the hypothesis, in
the human organism sufficiently powerful to lift tables, and
which yet had never produced the slightest derangement in
the thousands of experiments that physicists are daily mak-
ing in their laboratories ! Their balances, responsive to the
weight of a tenth of a milligram, their pendulums whose os-
cillations take place with mathematical regularity, had never
felt the slightest disturbing effect of these forces, whose
source is there present wherever there is a man and a voli-
tion ! Kow,. it is the ardent wish of the physicist that the
experiment shall always exactly tally the forecasts of theory.
Must he then admit an unknown disturbing force ?

And, even without going outside of the limits of the hu-

268 HYSTEBIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

man oiganiflm, think, if the organinn is unable to move the
smallest part of itself when the part is deprived of mnsdei
and nerves, or, when a single hair of our head is absolntdy
withdrawn from the influence of the will — think, I saj, how
much less (and with how much stronger reason) that nerv-
ous oiganism of ours would seem to be able to move inert
bodies residing outside the limits of our own frames I

But, if there is a profound improbability in the thing,
still, we cannot say that it is impossible. No one can show
a priori the impossibility of the phenomena described, ss
they demonstrate the impossibility of perpetual motion or
the squaring of the circle. Consequently, no one has the
right to treat as absurd the evidences which tend to confirm
the experiments. Provided these evidences are furnished by
judicious and truthful men, then they are worth the trouble
of examination. If this logical course had been followed —
the only true and equitable one, — the work would now have
been done, and the learned men would have the glory thereof.

Thury begins by examining the experiments of Count de
Oasparin at Valleyres.

The experiments of Valleyres (he writes) tend to estab-
lish the two following principles :

1. The will, in a certain condition of the human organ-
ism, can act, from a distance, upon inert bodies, and by an
agency different from that of muscular action.

2. Under the same conditions, thought can be communi-
cated directly, though unconsciously, from one individual
to another.

As long as we were ignorant of any other facts than those
resulting from a movement effected by contact with the fin-
gers of the hand, in a way in which the mechanical action
of the fingers became possible, the results of the experiments
upon the table were always of difficult and doubtful inter-
pretation. These results had to be necessarily based upon
an estimate of the mechanical force exerted by the hands

BESEAECHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 269

compared with tbe strength of the Tesistuice to be over-
come. But tbe mecbani^ force of the hKnda is di£BcuU
to measure exactly, under the conditions necessary to pro-
duce the phenomena.

Tet over and above that plan of work there remained two
methods of operation to employ.

a. So to dispose the apparatus employed that the move-
ment to be produced shall bo one that the mechanical action
of the fingers could not compass.

b. To set up movements at a distance without any kind
of contact

The following were our first experiments:

A. Mechanical aciion rendered impossible. Tbe first ex-
periment attempted along this line gave wholly negative
results. We suspended a table by a cord that passed over
two pulleys fixed in the ceiling and had a counter-weight
attached to the free end. It was easy, by regulating this
counterpoise, to balance in the air either the total weight
of the table or only a fraction, more or less great, thereof.

As a matter of fact, tbe table hung almost in equilibrium
with the weight, one only of its three legs touching the fioor.
The operators placed tlieir bands upon tbe top surface.
We acted at first in a circular direction, a disposition of the
force the efficacy of which had been established by previous
experiments. We then tried in vain to lift the table by
detaching it from the fioor. No positive result was obtained.

We had already (during the previous year) had a table
suspended to a dynamometer, and the efforts of four mes-
merlzers were powerless to relieve the dynamometer of an
appreciable fraction of the weight of the table.

But the conditions necessary for the production of the
phenomena were still unknown to us, and, consequently,
when the experiments tried led to negative results, we bad to
try others, without pressing too hastily for inferences and
conclusions. It was thus that we secured the results which
I am going to describe.

Experiment with the Swinging Table. — We needed a
piece of apparatus of such a kind that the mechanical action
of the fingers would be rendered impossible. For this pur-
pose we had a table made with a top about 38 inches in

270 KTSTEBIOUS FSYCHIO FOBCES

diameter, and a central trifoioated leg nndemeatL Hut
table bore a doee reaemblanoe to the one which had served
our purposes up to that time, and coold torn like its prede*
cesser. Still| the new table was capaUe of being trans-
formed in a moment into a mechanism such as I shall now
describe.

The summit of the tripod becomes the fulcrum of a lever
of the first order which is aUe to balance freely in a vertieal
plane. This lever, whose two arms are equal to each other
and to the radius of the table bears at one of its extremities
the table-top, held by the edge, and, toward the other ex-
tremity, a counterpoise which just balances the weight of
the table, but which can be modified at wilL To the under
side of the table-top is fastened a leg resting on the floor.

After the necessary preliminary rotations, the table is
harnessed up in its second form. Equilibrium is first se-
cured, then 3-6 of a pound is taken from the counterpoise.
The force required to lift the top by its centre is then 4
ounces, and previous experiments have proved that the ad-
herence of the fingers of the operators (the top was polished,
and not varnished), together with the possible effects of
elasticity, form a total lower than that figure. Yet the
top is lifted by the action of the fingers placed lightly on
its upper surface, at a certain distance from the edge.
Then the counterpoise is diminished; the mechanical diffi-
culty of lifting is augmented, yet still it takes place. The
weight is again diminished, and more and more, up to the
limit of the apparatus. The force necessary to lift the
top is then 8 1-5 pounds, and the counterpoise has been re-
lieved of 24 pounds; yet the levitation is easily accom-
plished. The number of the operators is gradually lessened
from eleven to six. The difficulty goes on increasing, yet
six operators still suffice; but five are not enouglu Six
operators lift 9 1-3 pounds, — an average for each man of
about iy2 pounds.

We now possess, in the apparatus just described, a gauge
or instrument of measurement.

B. The following movements were produced without con-
tact:

The table on which were made the trials I witnessed has

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR TIIURY 271

ix diameter of 32 inches and weighs 31 poiintl-. An av«M'-
age tangential force of 4 2-5 pounds, which may he raised
t:o 6 3-5 pounds, according to the greater or less inequalities
of the floor, applied to the edge of the table, is necessary to
give to it a movement of rotation. Ten is usually the num-
"ber of persons who operate about this table.

In order to assure ourselves of the absence of all con-
tact, we placed our eye on a level with the table in such a
way as to see light between our fingers and the surface of
the table, the fingers themselves remaining a little less than
an inch above the top. Usually, two persons would be ob-
serving at once. For instance, M, Edmond Boissier was
observing the legs of the table, while I was watching the
top. Then we exchanged roles. Sometimes two persons
took places at the extremities of one and the same diameter,
the one opposite the other, for the purpose of watching the
top of the table. Several times we saw it move, although
we could not detect the slightest touch by the fingers. Ac-
cording to my calculations, it would require the contact of
at least 100 fingers, or the light pressure of thirty, acting
voluntarily and fraudulently, to explain in terms of mechan-
ics the movements we observed.

Much more frequently still we obtained balancings with-
out contact, balancings which sometimes went so far as to
tip the table entirely over. To explain in terms of me-
chanical movement the effects we observed, we should have
to admit the involuntary contact of 84 fingers, or the light
pressure of 25, or two hands acting with intent to deceive.^
But these suppositions, also, are not at all admissible.

Nevertheless, we always felt that someone might pre-
sent the objection that it was difficult to observe these opera-
tions with precision, and we were constantly urging M.
Gasparin to convince the doubters and sceptics in the mat-
ter of the non-contact of the fingers by means of some
mechanical device. Out of this arose the last experiment
made at that time, and the most conclusive of all. A light
film of flour was almost instantaneously spread over the
table by means of a sulphur bellows such as is used in
vineyards. The movement of the chain of hands above tlio
table set it whirling. Then the film of flour was examined

273 HYSTEBIOTJS FSTCHIC EOBGES

and found to be inviolate from the touch of hands. Sefttal
repetitions on different days always gave the same resoltk

Such are the principal facts which establish the reali^
of the phenomenon. Thury next takes up the more difBedU
investigation of courses.

The Seat of the Faree.-^ It is possible that the fom
ii'hich produces the phenomena is a general tellurio force
which is merely transmitted by the operators or set in actkm
by them; or, possibly, the force resides in the operators
themselves.

To decide this question, we had a large movable plat-
form constructed which revolved on a perfectly vertical axis.
!Ncar the outer periphery of the platform stood four chairs,
and there was a table at the centra Four operatOFS^ ex-
perts in nervo-magnetic action, took their places on the
chairs, and, placing their hands on the table in the centre,
tried to give it circular movement by non-mechanical power.
In fact, the table soon began to move. Then it was stopped
and fastened to the platform by means of three screws.
The effort exerted upon this table by the four magnetizers
was such that, at the end of three-quarters of an hour of
experim^itation, the central supporting leg iwas broken.
Yet the movable platform did not turn. The tangential
force required to mechanically move the. empty platform was
only a few grams; loaded with the four operators, 250
grams was necessary, applied about 28 inches from the
centre. This figure would have been much less if it had
been possible to distribute the weight of the operators uni-
formly.

The result of this experiment (of June 4, 1853) showed
that the force which tends to make the table turn is in
the individuals and not in the ground. For the force ex-
erted upon the table tends to draw along the platform with
it If, then, the platform remains motionless, it must be
that an equal and contrary force is exerted by the operators.
It is therefore in them that the base of the seat of the
force resides. If, on the contrary, this force had emanated,

EESEARCHES OF PROFESSOK THURY 273

wholly or in lai^ psrt, from the groimd, if it had been a
force directly telluric, the platform would have turned, the
effort which the table exerted upon it being no longer ooun*
terbalanced by an equal reaction proceeding from the indi-
viduals.

Conditions of the Prodtietion and Action of the Force. —
I have said that the conditions for the production of the
force are little known. In the absence of precise laws, I
shall present what has been verified in a greater or leas
d^p-ee in the case of the three following points :

a. Conditions of action relative to the operators.

h. Conditions relative to the objects to be moved.

c. Conditions relative to the mode of action of the oper-
ators upon the objects to be moved.

The Wiu, The first and the most indispensable condi*
tion, according to M. Qasparin, is the will of the operator.
" Without the will," be says, " we obtain nothing; we might
sit there in chain twenty-four hours in succession without
getting the slightest movement." Farther on, the author
speaks, it is true, of unexpected movements different from
those which the will prescribes ; but it is evident that he ia
referring to a necessary combination of prescribed move-
ments and external resiBtances, the effective movements be-
ing the resultant of those that have been willed and of forces
of resistance developed in external objects. In short, the
will is always the prime mover and originator.

Nothing, it is true, in the experiments at Valleyres gave
any authority for believing that it could be otherwise than
this. But it is also certain that this purely negative resul^
or provisional generalization, deduced from a limited num-
ber of experiments, — cannot invalidate the results of ex-
periments inconsistent with those, in case such should exist
In other words, the will may ordinarily be necessary, with-
out always being so. Similarly, contact is ordinarily neces-
sary, and (dwaya has been so with a large number of opera-
tors, without, however, giving them the right to conclude
that contact is the indispensable condition of the phenome-
non, and that the different results obtained at Valleyres
were only illusions or error.

Since we are dealing here with a point of capital im-

274 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

portanoe^ I ahall take the liberty of Btating with some detiil
drcumstanoeB which seem oppoeed to the thesis msTnttined
by M. GhispariiL These fiicts, or data, have as gnartntee
the testimony of a man whom I should like to be aUe to
name, because his scientific culture and his oharaeter are
known of all men. It was in his house and under his eyes
that the events took place which I am going to relate.

At the time when everyone was amusing himself with
making tables turn and speak, or in directing the motioBBof
lead-pencils, fixed in movable sockets, over sheets of paper,
the children of the house amused themselves several times
with this sport At first, the responses obtained were such
that you could see in them a reflex of the unoonscious thought
of the operators, a ^^ dream of waking performers." Soon,
however, the character of the replies seemed to change.
It seemed as if what th^ revealed could hardly have ema-
nated from the mind of the young interrogators. Finally,
there was such an opposition to the commands given that M.
N., uncertain as to the true nature of these manifestations
in which a will different from the human will seemed to
appear, forbade their being called forth again. From that
time forth, sockets and table rested undisturbed.

A week had scarcely rolled by, after the events just naiv
rated, when a child of the family, he who had formerly
succeeded best in the table experiments, became the actor,
or the instrument, in strange phenomena. The boy was re-
ceiving a piano-lesson, when a low noise sounded in the
instrument, and it was shaken and displaced in such a way
that pupil and teacher closed it in haste and left the room.
On the next day, M. N., who had been informed of what
had happened, was present at the lesson, given at the same
time, — namely, when the dusk was coming on. At the end
of five or ten minutes he heard a noise in the piano difficult
to define, but which was certainly the kind of sound one
would expect a musical instrument to produce. There
was something about it musical and metallic Soon after,
the two front legs of the piano (which weighed over six
hundred and sixty pounds) were lifted up a little from
the floor. M. N. went to one end of the instrument and
tried to lift it. At one time it had its ordinary weight.

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 275

which wsts moTe than the strength of M. N. could manage;
at another, it seemed as if it had no longer anjr weight
at all, and opposed not the least resistance to his efforts.
Since the interior noises were becoming more and more vio-
lent, the lesson was brought to a close, for fear the instru-
ment might suffer some damage. The lesson was changed
to the morning and given in another room situated on the
ground floor. The same phenomena took place, and the
piano, which was lighter than the one up-stairs, was lifted
up much more ; that is to say, to a height of several inches.
!^L N. and a joung man nineteen years old tried leaning
with all their might on the comers of the piano which were
rising. Then one of two things happened: either their re-
sistance was in vain, and the piano continued to rise, or else
the music-stool on which the child sat moved rapidly back
as if pushed or jerked.

If occurrences like that had only taken place once we
might think that the child or the persons present were
laboring under some illusion. But they were repeated a
great number of times, for a fortnight, in the presence of
different witnesses. Then, one day, a violent manifesta-
tion took place, and thenceforth no unusual event occurred
in the house. At first, it was in the morning and in the
evening that these perturbations manifested tbemsetves;
then, invariably at any and all hours, they occurred every
time the child took his seat at the piano, after five or ten
minutes of playing. The phenomena happened only with
this boy, although there were others present (musicians) ;
and it made no difference which of the pianos in the house
he used.

I saw these instruments. The smaller, on the ground
floor, is a rectangular horizontal piano. According to my
calculations, a force of about 165 pounds applied to the edge
of the case, beneath the key-board, is necessary to lift this
piano as it was lifted by the unknown force. The instni-
ment in the first story of the house is a heavy Erard piano,
weighing, with the packing-box in which it was sent, 812
pounds, as stated in the way-bill, which I myself saw. Ac-
cording to my approximate calculations a pressure of 440

276 IfTSTESIOUS PSYCHIO FORCES

pounds IB required to lift this piano, under die same condi-
tions as the first was lifted.

I do not think that anyone will be tempted to attribatD
to the direct muscular effort of a child eleven yean old the
lifting up a weight of 440 pounds.* A lady who had at-
tributed the effect produced to the action of ihe knees paoed
her own hand between the edge of the piano and the knees
of the childy and was thus able to convince herself that her
explanation had no foundation in fact Even when the
child got upon his knees upon the piano^tool to playi he
did not find that the perturbations he dreaded osMed any
the more.

These authenticated facts of Professor Thury are at onoe
precise and formidable. What! two pianos rise from the
fioor and jump about I What do the physicists^ the diem-
istfl, the learned pedants in office need, then, to arouse them
from their torpor and make them shake their ears and open
their eyes { What shall be done to remove their noble and
Pharisaical indolence?

But, happen what may, no one is occupying himself with
the fascinating problem as stated, except scattered investi-
gators who are freed from the fear of ridicule and
are aware of the exact value of the human race, in large and
small, and the worth of its judgments.

M. Thury next discusses the explanation based on "the
will."

Did this boy (he says) will what took place, as the theory
of M. de Gasparin would require us to admit? Accord-

* Tke dynamic force necessary to produce this uplift, if we admit
that it was developed and accumulated during the five or ten minutes
of playinff that preceded the phenomenon, would not, on the other hand,
be beyond the strength of the child; it would remain even much be-
neath the limit of his powers. In general, the force expended, in these
phenomena of the tables, if one may Judge by the degree of fatigue
experienced by the operators, much surpasses what would be required
to produce the same effects mechanically. There is, therefore, in this
respect, no reason for admitting the intervention of a force foreign to
the boy's own nature. — {Thury.)

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 377

ing to the boy's testimony, which we believe to be wholly
tme, he did not will it; be seemed to be visibly annoyed
by what occurred; it disturbed his custom of industriously
practicing his lesson and offended his taste for regularity
and order, a thing well known to bis intimates. Hy per-
sonal conviction is that we positively cannot admit, in the
case of this lad, a conscious will, a settled design, to produce
these strange occurrences. But it is known that sometimes
we have a double personality, end one of them conTersefl with
tbe other (as in dreams) ; that our nature then oncon-
aciously desires what it does not will, and that between will
and desire there is only a difference in d^ree rather than
in kind. It would be necesBary to have recourse to explana-
tiona of this kind, — too subtle, perhaps, — in order to
square these piano-facts with tbe theory of M. Oasparin ;
and it would still be necessary to modify and enlarge the
facta if yon admit that even vnconscious desire suffices, in
the absence of the expressed will. There is, then, reason
for doubt on this essential point. That is the sole deduction
that I wish to draw from the events I have related.

This levitation, equivalent to an effort exerted of 440
pounds, has its scientific value. But how could the will,
conscious or unconscious, lift a piece of furniture of that
weight? By an unknown force which we are obliged to
recognize.

Preliminary Action. — Power is developed by action.
The rotations prepare for the tippings and the levitations.
The rotations and the tippings, with contact, seem to de-
velop the force necessary to produce the rotations and tip-
pings without contact In their turn, the rotations and
the tippings without contact prepare for the production of
true levitations, such a^ those of the swinging table; and
the persons who have this latent force awaked in them are
better fitted to appeal to it a second time.

There is, then, a gradual preparation required, at least
for the majority of operators. Does this preparation con-
sist in a modification that takes place in the operator, or in

278 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the inert body on which he acts, or in botht In order to
resolve this problem, experimenters who had been practicing
at one table went over to another, operating on which thej
found their full power unabated The preparation there-
fore consists in a modification that takes place in the indi-
viduals, and not in the inert body.* This modification oe-
ourring in individuals is dissipated rather rapidly, espe-
cially when the chain of experimenters is broken.

Inner Development of the Operators. — It is only after
a certain period of waiting that the operators, who have not
so far acted, cause even the easiest movement, — that
of rotation with contact It is during this time that the
force, or the conditions determining the manifestation of
the force, develop themselves. From that time on, the de-
veloped force has nothing to do but to increase. That which
takes place, therefore, in this time of waiting, is a very
important thing to be considered. We already know that it
is the operators themselves who are modified. But what is
it that takes place within them?

It must be that a kind of activity is set up in the organ-
ism, an activity which ordinarily requires the intervention
of the will. This activity, this work, is accompanied by a
certain fatigue. The action is not aroused in all operators
with equal ease and promptness. There are even persons
(the author estimates their number at one in ten) in whom
it appears that it cannot be produced at all.

In the midst of this great diversity of natural aptitudes,
it is observed that children " can secure obedience from the
table just like grown folks." Nevertheless, children do not
magnetize. Thus, although several facts seem to show that
magnetizers (or mesmerizers) have frequently a strong
power over the tables, yet one cannot admit the identity of
magnetic power and power over the tables; the one is not
the measure of the other. Only, the magnetic power would
constitute (or presume) a favorable subjective condition.

* In the first experiments of Thtuy, eight persons remained an hour
and a half standing, and then seated, around a table, without obtaining
the least resulting movement. Two or three days after, on their sec-
ond trial, the same persons, at the end of ten minutes, made a centre-
table revolve. Finallv, on the 4th of May, 1853, at the third or fourth
trial, the heaviest tables began to move almost immediately.

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 279

A will simple and strong, animation, high spirits, the con-
centration of tbe thought upon the work to do, good bodily
health, perhaps the very physical act of turning around tbe
table, and, finally, everything that can contribute to unity
of will-power among the experimenters, — all these things
help to make efficacious the commands addressed to the
table with force and authority.

Tbe tables (says M. de Qasparin) " wish to be handled
gaily, freely, with animation and confidence; they must be
humored at tbe start witb amusing and easy exercises."
Tbe first condition necessary for success witb tbe table is
good health end tbe second, confidence.

Among unfavorable circumstances, on tbe other hand,
must be reckoned a state of nervous tension; fatigue; a too
passionate interest; a mind anxious, preoccupied or dis-
tracted.

The tables — M, de Qasparin further says, in his meta-
phorical language — " detest folks who quarrel, either as
their opponents or as their friends." " As soon as I took
too deep an interest, I ceased tg command obedience." " If
it happened that I desired success too ardently, and showed
impatience at delay, I no longer had any power of action
on tbe table." " If the tables encounter preoccupied minds
or nervous excitement, they go into a sulking mood." " If
you are touchy, ovei^anxious . . . you can't do any-
thing of any value," " In the midst of distractions, chat-
terings, pleasantries, the operators infallibly lose all their
power." Away with salon experiments!

Hust one have faith ? It is not necessary ; but confidence
in the result predisposes to a lai^r endowment of power in
the seance of the occasion. It does not suffice to have faith ;
there are persons who have faith and good will, yet with
whom power of action is altogether wanting.

Muscular force or nervous susceptibility do not seem to
play any role.

Meteorological conditions have seemed to eacercise some
influence, probably by acting upon the physique and the
»pirita of the operators. Thus fine weather, dry and warm
weather (but not a suffocating heat) act favorably.

The especially efficacious influence of dry heat upon the

280 MYSTEBIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

varf aoe of the table * will perhaps receive a difEeient ex-
planation.

UncoMciaua Muscular Adum, produced during an espe-
ciaUy Nervous Condition. — So long aa only movements
with contact were known, in which the movement obaerved
was one of those which mnscnlar action mig^t produee, ex-
planations based on the hypothesis of nnconscions muacolar
action were certainly sufficient and much more probable
than all the other explanations which had been up to that
time proposed.

From this point of view (entirely physiological) it is set-
tled that we must distinguish between the effort which a
muscle exerts and the consciousness we have of this effort
It will be remembered that there exist in the human organ-
ism a great number of muscles that habitually exert con-
siderable effort without our being in the slightest degree
aware of it. It has been pointed out that muscles exist
whose contractions are perceptible by us in a certain state
of the system and unperceived in another state. It is there-
fore conceivable that the muscles of our limbs might as
an exceptional thing, exhibit the same phenomenon. The
preparation for the movement of the table, the special kind
of reaction that takes place at this interval of waiting, put
the nervous system into a particular condition in which
certain muscular movements may take place in an imcon-
scious manner.

But, evidently, this theory is not sufficient to account for
movements without contact, nor those that take place in
such a ,way that muscular action could not produce them.
It is therefore these two classes of movements which must
serve as the basis of new experiments and as the founda-
tion of a new theory.

How also explain the very peculiar and truly inconceiv-
able character of the movements of the table? — this start-
ing to move, so insensible, so gentle, so different from the
abruptness characteristic of the impetus given by mechan-

* In the case of difficult tests, when they took place on cold days,
A warm spread was stretched over the table, and removed at the mo-
ment of the experiment. The operators themselves, before actings held
their hands open for a moment before a stove.

BESEAECHES OF PROFESSOR THURT 281
ical force; these levitations bo spontaDeoua, so eDergetic,
u'hicb leap up to meet tbe hands; these dances and imita-
tions of music which you irould iu vain attempt to equal
hy means of the combined and voluntarj action of the
operators; these little raps succeeding the loud ones, when
the command is given, the exquisite delicacy of which noth-
ing can express. Several times when someone asked a so-
called spirit his age, one of the legs of the ceutre-tahle lifted
up and rapped 1, 2, 3, etc. Then the movement was &a-
celerated. Finally, the three legs beat a kind of drum-roll
so rapid that it was impossible to count, and which tbe
most skilful could never succeed in imitating. On another
occasion, under the contact of hands, the table was turning
upon three legs, upon two, upon a single one; and, in this
last position, changed feet, throwing its weight first upon
one and then upon another with great ease, and with noth-
ing abrupt or jerky in its motions. Neither the experi-
menters nor their most eminent opponents would ever be
able to imitate mechanically this dance of the table, and,
above all, the whirling pirouettes and changes of feet.

Electricity. — Many have tried to explain tbe movements
of tables by electricity. Even supposing that they involve
the very abundant production of this agent, no known effect
of electricity would account for the movement of the tables.
But, in fact, it is easy to show that there is no electricity
produced ; for, when a galvanometer was interposed in the
chain, no deviation of the needle took place. Tbe elec-
trometer remains as indifferent to tbe solicitations of tbe
tables as does the mariner's compass.

Nervo-magnetism. — There is certainly some analogy be-
tween several phenomena of nervo-magnetism and those of
the tables. Those passes which seem to favor balancing
without contact; tbe motion imparted by the chain to this
man whom they cause to turn about (unless, indeed, there
is in this some effect of the imagination) ; finally, the power
that many meamerizers exert over the tables — all this
seems to indicate a kinship between tbe two orders of phe-
nomena. But, since the laws of nervo-magnettsm are little
known, tliere is no conclusion to be drawn from this, and
it seems to me preferable, for the present, to study sepa-

282 MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC F0BCE8

rately the phenomena of teUes^ which are better adapted
to the experiments of the phyuciBt, and which, well atndied,
will render more service to nervo-magnetism than it could
receive in a long time from this obscure branch of phju-
ol<^.

Thury next touches upon M. de Gasparin's theory of
fluidic action. Being certain that he accurately underatandB
this theoiy, he gives a r£sum6 of it in the following items:

1. A fluid is produced by the brain, and flows along the
nerves.

2. This fluid can go beyond the limits of the body ; it csn
be emitted.

8. Under the influence of the will, it can move hither
and thither.

4. This fluid acts upon inert bodies; yet it shuns contact
with certain substances, such as glass.

5. It lifts the parts toward which it moves, or in which it
accumulates.

6. It further acts upon inert bodies by attraction or by
repulsion, with a tendency to either join or separate the
inert body and the organism.

7. It can also determine interior movements in matter,
and give rise to noises.

8. This fluid is especially produced and developed by
turning, and by the will, and by the joining of hands in a
certain manner.

9. It is communicated from one person to another by
vicinage or by contact. Yet certain persons impede its com-
munication.

10. We have no knowledge of special movements of the
fluid, which are determined by the will.

11. This fluid is probably identical with the nervous fluid
and with the nervo-magnetic fluid.

Application. — Rotation is a resultant of the action of the
fluid and of the resistances of the wood.

Tipping results from the accumulation of the fluid in the
leg of the table which is lifted.

BESEAECHES OF PROFESSOR THURT 283

The glass placed in the middle of the table stops the
movement beciause it drives away the fluid.

The glass placed on one side of the table makes the
opposite side rise because the fluid, fleeing from the glass,
accumulates there.

Thury does not attempt the discussion of this theory. But
we may repeat with Gasparin, " When you shall have ex-
plained to me how I lift my hand, I will explain to you how
I cause the leg of the table to rise."

The whole problem lies in that, — the action of mind on
matter. We must not dream that we can give a final solu-
tion of it at the present time. To reduce the new facts to
conformity with the old ones; that is to say, to relate the
action of mind upon inert bodies outside of us to the action
of mind upon the matter in our bodies — such is the only
problem which the science of to-day can reasonably propose
to itself. Thury states it in general terms as follows :

General Question of the Action of Mind upon Matter. —
We shall seek to formulate the results of experiment up to
the point where experiment abandons us. From there on
we shall study all the alternatives offered to our mind, as
simple possibilities, some of which will give place to hy-
potheses explanatory of the new phenomena.

First principle: In the ordinary state of the body, the
will acts directly only in the sphere of the organism. —
Matter belonging to the external world is modified on conr
tact with the organism, and the modifications which it un-
dergoes gradually produce others by contiguity. It is thus
that we can act upon objects at a distance from us. Our
action at a distance upon all that surrounds us is mediate
and not immediate. We believe that this is true of the
action of all physical forces, such as gravity, heat, elec-
tricity. Their effect is gradually communicated, and thus
alone they put distance behind them and come into relation
with man as a sentient being.

Second principle: In the organism itself there is a
series of mediate acts. — Thus the will does not act directly

284 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

upon the bones which receive the movement of the muadeB;
nor does the will modify any more directly the mnadeB,
since, when deprived of nerves, they are incapable of move-
ment. Does the will act directly upon the nerves t It is a
mooted question whether it modifies them directly or indi-
rectly. Thus the substance upon which the soul immedi-
ately acts is still undetermined. The substance may be
solid, may be fluid; it may be a substance still unknown,
or perhaps a particular state of known substances. In order
to avoid a circumlocution, let me give it a name. I shall
call it the psychode (^^, soul, and Wo*, way).

Third principle: The substance upon which the mind
immediately acts — the psychode — is only susceptible of
very simple modifications under the influence of the mind,
for, since the movements are to be somewhat varied, an
extensive and complicated apparatus appears in the organ-
ism, — a whole system of muscles, vessels, nerves, etc, which
are wanting in tltfe inferior animals (among whom move-
ments are very simple), and which would have been un-
necessary had matter been directly susceptible of modifica-
tions equally varied under the influence of mind. When
movements are intended to be very simple (as in the case
of infusoria) the complicated apparatus is wanting and
the life-spirit acts upon matter that is almost homogeneous.

The following four hypotheses regarding the psychode
may be formed :

a. The psychode is a substance peculiar to the organism,
and not capable of emerging from it. It acts only
mediately upon everything outside of the visible organism.

b. The psychode is a substance peculiar to the organism,
capable of extending beyond the limits of the visible organ-
ism under certain special conditions. The modifications it
receives necessarily act upon other inert bodies. The will
acts upon the psychode, and thus mediately, upon the bodies
that the sphere of this substance embraces.

c. The psychode is a universal substance which is con-
ditioned in its action on other inert bodies by the structure
of living organisms, or by a certain state of inorganic bodies
— a state determined by the influence of living organisms
in certain special conditions.

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THURY 285

d. The pejcliode is s peculiar state of matter, a state
liabitoally produced within the sphere of the orgauiHm, but
which may also be produced beyond its limits under the
influence of a certain state of the organism, — an influence
comparable to that of magnets in the phenomena of dia-
magnetism.

Thury proposes the adjective ecteneic (from Uriima^
extension) to describe that special state of the organism in
which the mind can, in some measure, extend the habitual
limits of its action, and he styles " ecteneic force " that
which is developed in this state.

The first hypothesis (he adds) would not be at all
adapted to explain the phenomena with which we are con-
cerned. But the three others give rise to three different
explanations, in which (he assures us) the greater part of
the phenomena investigated will be comprised.

Explanatuma hosed vpon the Intervention of Spirits. —
M. de Qasparin has shown the error of all these explana-
tions:

1. By theological considerations.

2. By the very just remark that we should not resort to
explanations which introduce spirits into the problem un-
til other interpretations have been proved to be entirely in-
sufficient.

3. Finally, by physical considerations.

Looking at the question here solely from the general
physical point of view, I do not follow M. de Gasparin (says
Thury) in his exploitation of theological explanations. As
to the second, I will only call attention to the suggestion
that the sufficiency of explanations purely physical should
strictly apply only to the Valleyres experiments, where, in
truth, nothing gives evidence of the intervention of wills
other than the human will.

The question of the intervention of spirits might be de-
cided from the tenor or content of the revelations, in any
case in which this content would be such as evidently could

S86 HYSTEBIOTJS PSYCHIC FOBCES

not have originated in the human mind. It ia not my in-
tention to discuss this point The present stndy takes cog-
niaanoe solely of movements of inert bodies^ and we have
only to consider, among the arguments of IL de Gaaparin,
those which are included in thk field of view.

Now, his aiguments on this point seem to me to be all
summed up in these slightly ironical lines: "Strange
spirits I • • . whose presence or absence could depend
upon a rotation, depend upon cold or wannth, or hetlth
or disease, on high spirits or lassitude, on an nnaldlful
company of unconscious magicians! I have the headache
or the grip, therefore the daemonic beings will not be aUe
to appear to-day.''

M. de Mirville, who believes in spirits who manifest
themselves through the agency of the fluid, mi^^t reply to
Gasparin that the conditions of the ostensible manifestation
of spirits are perhaps the fluidic state itself; that if this
is 80, we might very well, in a seance phenomenon, have a
fliiidic manifestation without the intervention of spirits, but
not the intervention of spirits without a preliminary fluidic
manifestation, and that, thus, anyone will invite such mani-
festation only at his own risk and peril.

Thury next discusses how the question of spirits ought
to be considered.

The task of science (he writes) is to bear witness to the
truth. It cannot do so if it borrows a part of its data
from revelation or from tradition; to do this would be a
begging of the question, and the testimony of science would
become worthless.

The facts of the natural order are connected vnth two
categories of forces, the one that of necessity, the other that
of freedom. To the first belong the general forces of
gravitation, heat, light, electricity, and the vegetative force.
It is possible that we may discover others some day; but at
present they are the only ones we know. To the second
category belong solely the mind of animals and that of man.
These are truly forces, since they are the cause of move"
merits and of various phenomena in the physical world.

RESEARCHES OF PROFESSOR THTJRY 287

Experience inatmcts ub that these mental forces manifeBt
themselves by the intennediBr; of special organisms, very
complex in the case of man and the superior animals, but
simple in that of the lowest, among which latter class mind
has no need of muscles and nerves in order ,to manifest itself
externally, but seems to act directly upon a homogeneous
matter, the movements of which it determines (the amceba
of Ehrenberg). It is in these elementary organizations that
the problem of the action of mind on matter is stated, after
a fashion, in its simplest terms.

When once we have admitted the existence of the will
as distinct, at least in principle, from the material body,
it becomes solely a question of experience to ascertain
whether other wills thui that of man and the animab play
any role whatever, frequent or occasional, on the stage of
life. If these wills exist, they will have some means or
other of manifestation, with which experience alone can
make us acquainted. As a matter of fact, al) that it is
possible to affirm, a priori, is that, in order to appear, they
must manifest themselves through some one of the forms of
the eternal substance we call matter. But, to say that this
matter must necessarily have an organization of muscles,
nerves, etc., would be to hold to a very narrow idea, and
one already belied by observation of the animal kingdom
in its lower types. As long as we do not know what the
bond is that unites the mind to the matter in which it mani-
fests itself, it would be perfectly illogical to lay down, a
priori, particular conditions which matter must observe in
this manifestation. These conditions are at present wholly
undetermined. Thus we are at liberty to seek for signs
of these manifestations in the cosmic ether or in ponderable
matter; in the gases, the liquids, or the solids; in unor-
ganized matter, or particularly in matter already organized,
such as that of which man and the animals arc built up.
It would be poor logic to affirm that other wills than those
of men and animals cannot be discovered, on the ground
that, heretofore, nothing of the kind has been seen ; for
facts of this kind may have been observed, but not scien-
tifically elucidated and authenticated. Furthermore these
wills might appear only at long intervals, or what seem

288 MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC F6BCES

long to us; but the vast abyaaes of nature's epodu are not
to be Bpanned by our little memoriea or meaaured by the
momentary duration of our lives.

Such are the facts and the ideas set forth in this oonseiea-
tious monograph of Professor Thury. It is easily seen
that, in his opinion (1) the phenomena are positive facts;
(2) that they are produced by an unknown substance, to
which he gives the name pmfchode, a something that, by
the' hypothesis, exists in us and serves as the intermediaiy
between the mind and the body, between the will and the
organs, and can project itself beyond the limits of the body;
(8) that the hypothesis of spirits is not absurd, and that
there may exist in this world other wills than those of man
and the animals, wills capable of acting on matter.

Professor Marc Thury died in 1905, having devoted his
entire life to the study of the exact sciences. His specialty
was astronomy.

CHAPTER VTTI

THE EXPEJRIMENTS OF TIIK DIALECTICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON

A well-known association of scholars and scientists, the
Dialectical Society of London, founded in 1867 under the
presidency of Sir John Lubbock, resolved, in the year 1869,
to include within the sphere of its observations, the physical
phenomena which it is the object of this volume to study.
After a series of experiments the society published a report,
to which it added the attestations, upon the same subject,
of a certain number of scientists, among whom I had the
honor of being included.* This report was translated into
French by Dr. Dusart and published f in the series of psychic
works so happily planned and directed by Count de Rochas.
To give a true idea here of the results reached by this so-
ciety I cannot do better than cite the salient and essential
portions of this purely scientific memoir.

Two or three paragraphs from the beginning of the report
will show how and at what time the society first took up
psycho-physical studies:

At a Meeting of the London Dialectical Society, held on
Wednesday, the 6th of January, 1869, Mr. J. H. Levy in
the chair, it was resolved : —

" That the Council be requested to appoint a Committee
in conformity with Bye-law VII., to investigate the
Phenomena alleged to be Spiritual Manifestations, and to
report thereon."

* Report on Spiritimlism of the Committee of the London Dialectical
Sodetj, London: 1871.

tLi one vol. 8vo. Parii: Leymarie, 1900.

289

SM> MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Thii ocmuuittee was formed on January 26 following. It
WftB oompOBed of twenty-seven members. Among theae we
note Alfred Russel Wallace, the learned naturalist and
mmiber of tlie Jioyal Society, of London. Professor Huxley
■nd George Henry Lewis were asked to collaborate witli the
oonuiiittee. They refused. Professor Huxley's letter is too
duraoterifltio to be omitted:

Sir, — I regret that I am nnable to aoo^t the isvitatioB
of the CoimcU of the Dialectical Society to cooperate irith
a Committee for the inTeatigation of " Spiritnalum; " and
for two reaaons. In the first place, I have no time tht aodt
an inquiiy, which would involve much tronble and (im-
less it were nnlike all inquiries of that kind I have known)
mudi annoyance. In the second place, I take no intovat in
the subject. The only case of *' Spiritualism " I have bad
the opportunity of examining into for myself, was as gross
an imposture as ever came under my notice. But suppos-
ing the phenomena to be genuine — they do not interest me.
If any body would endow me with the faculty of listening
to the chatter of old women and curates in the nearest
cathedral town, I should decline the privil^e, having better
things to do.

And if the folk in the spiritual world do not talk mora
wisely and sensibly than their friends report them to do,
I put them in the same category.

The only good that I can see in a demonstration of the
truth of " Spiritualism " is to furnish an additional argu-
ment against suicida Better live a crossing-sweeper than
die and be made to talk twaddle by a " medium " hired at
a guinea a seance.

I am, sir, etc,
29th January, 1869. T. H. Huxlbt.

As if opposing a direct negative and rebuke to this radical
scepticism, based on a single stance of observation ( !) the
learned electrician, Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, in 1867,
who did so much to forward and encourage the laying of

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 291

the third (and finally succeaaful) Atlantic cable between
Europe and America, hastened to identify himaelf with
the investigations, and by his aid materially furthered the
progresB of this scieDtifio examination.

The report, with its varions pieces of testimcRiy, was pre-
sented to the Dialectical Society on the 20tli of July, 1870.
But, in order not to compromise the society, it was decided
not to publish it officially, under the tegis of the associa-
tion. Consequently the committee unanimously resolved to
publish the report on its own responsibiU^. It reads as
follows :

Your Committee have held fifteen meetings, at which
they received evidence from thirty-three persons, who de-
scribed phenomena which, they stated, had occurred within
their own personal experience.

Your Committee have received written statements relat-
ing to the phenomena from thirty-one persons.

Your Committee invited the attendance and requested the
co-operation and advice of scientific men who had publicly
expressed opinions, favourable or adverse, to the genuine-
ness of the phenomena.

Your Conunittee also specially invited the attendance of
persons who had publicly ascribed the phenomena to im-
posture or delusion.

As it appeared to your Committee to be of the greatest
importance that they should investigate the phenomena in
question by personal experiment and test, they resolved
themselves into sub-committees as the best means of doing

Six Sulxximmittees were accordingly formed.

These reports, hereto subjoined, substantially corroborate
each other, and would appear to establish Uie following
propositions : —

1, That sounds of a varied character, apparently pro-
ceeding from articles of furniture, the floor and walls of
the room (the vibrations accompanying which sounds are
often distinctly perceptible to the touch) occur, without

293 MTSTEBIOXJS PSYCHIC FOBCES

being produced by miuealmr action or mechanical coa-
triyance.

2. That moYements of heavy bodies take place without
mechanical contrivance of any kind or adequate exertion of
muscular force by the peraons present, and frequentlj
without contact or connection with any person.

3. That these sounds and movements often occur at the
times and in the manner asked for by persona pr es e n t,
and, by means of a simple code of signals, answer questions
and spell out coherent communications.

4. That the answers and conmiimications thus obtained
are; for the most part, of a conmumplace character; bnt
facts are sometimes correctly given which are only known
to one of the persons present

6. That the circumstances under which the phenomena
occur are variable, the most prominent fact being that the
presence of certain persons seem necessary to their occur-
rence, and that of others generally adverse. But this dif-
ference does not appear to depend upon any belief or dis-
belief concerning the phenomena.

6. That, nevertheless, the occurrence of the phenomena is
not insured by the presence or absence of such persons re-
spectively.

The oral and written evidence received by your Com-
mittee not only testifies to phenomena of the same nature
as those witnessed by the sub-committees, but to others of
a more varied and extraordinary character.

This evidence may be briefly summarized as follows: —

1. Thirteen witnesses state that they have seen heavy
bodies — in some instances men — rise slowly in the air
and remain there for some time without visible or tangible
support

2. Fourteen witnesses testify to having seen hands or
figures, not appertaining to any human being, but life-like
in appearance and mobility, which they have sometimes
touched or even grasped, and which they are therefore con-
vinced were not the result of imposture or illusion.

3. Five witnesses state that they have been touched, by
some invisible agency, on various parts of the body, and

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 293

often where requested, when the handB of all present were
visible.

4. Thirteen witnesses declare that they have heard
musical pieces well played upon instruments not manipu-
lated by any ascertainable agency.

5. Five witnesses state that they have seen red-hot coals
applied to the hands or beads of several persons without
producing pain or scorching; and three witnesses state that
they have had the same experiment made upon themselves
with the like immunity.

6. Eight witnesses state that they have received precise
information through rappings, writings, and in other ways,
the accuracy of which was unknown at the time to them-
selves or to any persons prenent, and which, on subsequent
inquiry, was found to be correct.

7. One witness declares that be has received a precise
and detailed statement which, nevertheless, proved to be
entirely erroneous.

8. Three witnesses state that tbey have been present when
drawings, both in pencil and colorn, were produced in so
short a time, and under such conditions, as to render human
agency impossible.

9. Six witnesses declare that they have received informa-
tion of future events, and that in some cases the hour and
minute of their occurrence have been accurately foretold,
days and even weeks before.

In addition to the above, evidence has been pven of
trance-flpeaking, of healing, of antomatic writing, of the
introduction of flowers and fruits into dosed rooms, of
voices in the air, of visions in crystals and glasses, and of
the elongation of the human body.

Some extracts from the reports will give my readers a
better idea of these experiments and show their wholly scien-
tific character:

All of these meetings were held at the private residences
of members of the Committee, purposely to preclude the
posHiblity of prearranged mechanism or contrivance.

S94 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

The furniture of the room in which the experiments were
conducted was on every occasion its accustomed fomitmw.

The tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables^ xeqoir*
ing a strong effort to move them* The smallest of them
was 5ft. 9in. long by 4ft wide, and the largest, 9ft Sin.
long and 4V^ft wide, and of proportionate wei§^t

The room, tables^ and furniture generally were repeatedly
subjected to careful examination before, during, and after
the experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machineiy,
instrument or other contrivances existed by means of which
the sounds pr movements hereinafter mentioned could be
caused.

The experiments were conducted in the light of gas,
except on the few occasions specially noted in &e minutes.

Your Committee have avoided the employment of pro-
fessional or paid mediums, the mediumship being that of
members of your SulHX)mmittee, persons of good social
position and of unimpeachable integrity, having no
pecuniary object to serve, and nothing to gain by deception.

Of the members of your Sub-committee about four-
fifths entered upon the investigation wholly sceptical as
to the reality of the alleged phenomena, firmly believing
them to be the result either of imposture or of delusion, or
of involuntary muscular action. It was only by irresistible
evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility
of either of these solutions, and after trial and test many
times repeated, that the most sceptical of your SulM*om-
mittee were slowly and reluctantly convinced that the
phenomena exhibited in the course of their protracted in-
quiry were veritable facts.

A description of one experiment, and the manner of
conducting it, will best show the care and caution with
which your Committee have pursued their investigations.

So long as there was contact, or even the possibility of «
contact, by the hands or feet, or even by the clothes of any
person in the room, with the substance moved or sounded,
there could be no perfect assurance that the motions and
sounds were not produced by the person so in contact. The
following experiment was therefore tried :

On an occasion when eleven members of your Sub-coiu-

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERLMENTS 295

mittee had been Bitting round one of the dining-tables above
described for forty minutes, and rarloua motions and
sounds had occurred, they, by way of test, turned the backs
of their chain to the table, at about nine inches from it.
They all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their anna
upon the backs thereof. In this position, their feet were of
course turned away from the table, and by no possibility
conld be placed under it or touch the floor. The hands of
each person were extended over the table at about four
inches from the surface. Contact, therefore, with any part
of the table could not take place without detection.

In less than a minute the table, untouched, moved four
times; at first about five inches to one side, then about
twelve inches to the opposite side, end then, in like manner,
four inches and six inches respectively.

The hands of all present were next placed on the backs
of their chairs, and about a foot from the table, which
again moved, as before, five times, over spaces varying from
four to six inches. Then all the chairs were removed
twelve inches from the table, and each person knelt on
bis chair as before, this time however folding bis hands
behind his back, his body being thus about eighteen inches
from the table, and having the back of the chair between
himself and the table. The table again moved four times,
in various directions. In the course of this conclusive ex-
periment, and in less than hatf-an-hour, the table thus
moved, without contact or possibility of contact with any
person present, thirteen times, the movements being in dif-
ferent directions, and some of them according to the re-
quest of various members of your Sub-committee.

The table was then carefully examined, turned upside
down and taken to pieces, but nothing was discovered to
account for the phenomena. The experiment was con-
. ducted throughout in the full light of gas above the table.

Altogether, your SuVcommittee have witnessed upwards
of fifly similar motions without contact on eight different
evenings, in the houses of members of your Sub-committee,
the most careful tests being applied on each occasion.

In all similar experiments the possibility of mechanical
or other contrivance was further negatived by the fact that

296 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the movements were in various directions, now to one side,
then to the other ; now up the room, now down the room —
motions that would have required the co-operation of many
hands or feet; and these, from the great size and weight
of the tables, could not have been so used without the
visible exercise of muscular force. Every hand and foot
was plainly to be seen and could not have been moved
without instant detection.

The motions were witnessed simultaneously by all
present. They were matters of measurement, and not of
opinion or fancy. And they occurred so often, under so
many and such various conditions, with such saf^uards
against error or deception, and with such invariable results,
as to satisfy the members of your Sub-committee by whom
the experiments were txicd, wholly sceptical as moat of
them were when they entered upon the investigation, that
there is a force capable of moving heavy bodies without
material contact^ aiid which force is in some unknown man-
ner dependent upon the presence of human beings.

Such was the first verdict of science upon Spiritualistic
doings in England, a verdict rendered by physicists, chem-
ists, astronomers and naturalists, several of them members
of the London Royal Society. The investigations were un-
der tlio especial care of Professor Morgan, president of the
Mathematical Society, of London ; of Varley, chief electrical
engineer of the d(»partnient of telegraphs, and Alfred Wal-
lace, naturalist, etc. Several members of the Dialectical
Society refused to join in the conclusions of the committee,
and declared they ought to be verified by another scientist;
for example, by the chemist, Crookes. This gentleman ac-
cepted the proposition, and in this way it was that he began
his experiments, of which more anon.

But, before presenting an account of the experiments of
the eminent chemist, I should like to place before my read-
ers the chief points settled by the Experimental Committee,
of which I have just spoken.

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 297

SPECIAL OB8EBVATIOH8.

Uareh Hh. Nine members present. Seonion at eight
o'clock. The following phenomena were produced : 1.
The members of the circle standing, rested the tips of their
fingers only on the table. It made a considerable move-
ment. 2. Holding their bands a few inches above the
table, and no one in any way touching it, it moved a dis-
tance of more than a foot 3. To render the experiment
absolutely conclusive, all present stood clear away from the
table, and stretching out their hands over it without touch-
ing it, it again moved as before, and about the same dis-
tance. During this time, one of the Committee was placed
upon the floor to look carefully beneath the table, while
others were placed outside to see that no person went near
to the table. In this position it was freqiiently moved,
without possibility of contact by any person present. 4.
Whilst thus standing clear of the table, but with the tips
of their iingers resting upon it, all at the same moment
raised tlieir hands at a given signal; and on several oc-
casions the table jumped from the floor to an elevation
varying from half an inch to an inch. 5. All held their
hands close above the table, but not touching it, and then
OD a word of command raised them suddenly, and the table
jumped as before. The member lying on the floor, and
those placed outside the cirele, were keenly watching as
before, and all observed the phenomena as described,

April IZth. Eight members present. Sitting at 8 p. m.
Within five minutes tapping sounds were beard on the leaf
of the table. Various questions, as to order of sitting, etc.,
were put, and answered by rappings. The alphabet was
called for, and the word " laugh " was spelled out It was
asked if it was intended that we should laugh. An affirma-
tive answer being given, the members laughed; upon which
the table made a roost vigorous sound and motion imitative
of and responsive to the laughter, and so ludicrous as To
cause a general peal of real laughter, to which the table
shook, and the rapping kept time as an accompaniment.
The following questions were then pot and answered by

208 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

the number of raps given : — How many childien has lln.

M i '' " Four; " " Mrs. W I " Three; '^ « Mn.

D V No rap; "Mrs. E T' "Five;'' ""Un.

8 i " " Two." It was aacertainedy upon inquiiy that

these replies were perfectly correct, except in the case of

Mrs. E-- 9 who has only four children liYiDg, but has

lost one. Neither the medium nor any person presenti was
aware of all the above numbers, but each number was
known to some of them. The inquiiy for a written com-
munication being responded to by three raps, some sheets
of paper with a pencil were laid under the table, and at
the end of the sitting examined, but no letter or mark was
found on the paper. In order to test whether these sounds
would continue under different conditions, all sat some dis-
tance from the table, holding hands in a cirele round it
But instead of upon the table as before, loud rappings
were heard to proceed from various parts of the floor, and
from the chair on which the medium sat ; while some came
from the other side of the room, a distance of about fifteen
feet from the nearest person. A desire having been ex-
pressed for a shower of raps, loud rapping came frem every
part of the table at once, producing an effect similar to that
of a shower of hail falling upon it. The sounds throughout
the evening were very sharp and distinct It was observed
that, although during the conversation the rappings are
sometimes of a singularly lively character, yet when a ques-
tion is put they cease instantly, and not one is heard until
the response is given. *

April 29th. Nine members present Medium and con-
ditions as before. In about a quarter of an hour the table
made sundry movements along the floor, with rappings.
The sounds at first were very softly given, but subsequently
became much stronger. They beat time to the aire played
by a musical box, and came from any part of the table re-
quested by the members. Some questions were put and
followed by raps, but more frequently by tilting of the
table at its sides, ends, or comers, the elevation being from
one to four inches. An endeavour was made by those sit-
ting near, to prevent the table from rising, but it resisted

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 299

all their efforts. The chRir on vhidi the medium was
seated was drawn several times over the floor. Eirst it
moved hackward several feetj then it gave several twists
and tuma, and finally returned with the medium to nearly
its original position. The chair had no casters, and moved
quite noiselessly, the medium appearing perfectly still and
holding her feet above the carpet; so tlwt during the en-
tire phenomenon no part of her person or of her dress
touched the floor. There was bright gaslight, and tlie mem-
bers had a clear opportunity to obeerve all that occurred ;
and all agreed that imposture was impossible. While this
was going on, a rapping sound came continually from the
floor beneath and around the chair. It was then suggested
that trials should be made if the table would move without
contact. All present, including the mediimi stood quite
clear of the table, holding their hands from three to six
inches above it, and without any way of touching it. Ob-
servers were placed under it to see that it was not touched
there. The following were the observations:

1. The table repeatedly moved along the floor in differ-
ent directions, often taking that requested. Thus, in ac-
cordance with a desire expressed that it should move from
the front to the back room, it took that direction, and, on
approaching the folding doors and meeting with an obstruc-
tion, turned as if to avoid it.

2. On a given signal all raised their hands suddenly, and
the table immediately sprang or jerked up from the
floor about one inch.

Various members of the Committee volunteered by turns
to keep watch below the table, whilst others standing round
them carefully noted everything that took place ; but no one
could discover any visible agency in their production.

May 18fA. Music was played on the piano-forte, and
one piece was accompanied by tapping sounds from all parts
of the table, and another piece both by tapping sounds,
vibrations, and slight vertical movements of the table at
its sides, ends, and comers. The sounds and movements
all kept time with the music. The same phenomena also
occurred wlien a song was sung. During the seance the

800 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

flounds were very equally diatribatad, being addam ooii-
fined to one part of the table.

June 9tK Ei^t members pieeisnt The moat interest-
ing fact this evening was, that though the tapping aoonds
proceeded from different parts of the table, bat pnneipally
from that in front of the medinm ; yet, when she went into
the hall to receive a message, they still continued to oome
from that part of the table.

The alphabet being repeated in accordance with the sig-
nal, ^^ Queer Pals " was spelt out These words seemed to
amuse and puzzle the meeting. However, it was suggested
they might apply to the Christy Minstrels, whose nigger
melodies, at St George's Hall, were very clearly heard
through the open window of the back room. At this sugges-
tion the table gave three considerable tilts.

June nth. The medium held a sheet of note paper at
arm's length over the table by one of its comers, and, at
request, faint but distinct taps were heard upon it The
other comers of the paper were then held by members of
the Committee, and the sounds were again heard by all at
the table; while those who held the paper felt the impact
of the invisible blows. One or more questions were an-
swered in this way by three clear and distinctly audible
taps, which had a sound similar in character to that pro-
duced by dropping water. This new and curious phenom-
enon occurred close under the eyes of all present, witliout
any physical cause for it being detected.

June 2ilst, Movement of harmonican without contact.
On the medium and two other members holding their hands
above the harmonican without in any way touching it, it
moved almost entirely round, by successive jerks, on the
table on which it was placed. The dining-table was
strongly moved a distance of six feet, the hands of the
members present resting lightly on it

Oct. 18th. A cylinder of canvas, three feet in height,
and about two feet in diameter, was placed under a small

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 301

table, the legs of which were eontained within it Inside
the cylinder was a bell, resting on the floor. No sounds
proceeded from the bell, but there were repeated rapplngs
upon and jerkings of the tab^e.^^JEbiy'^linder precluded
the poeeibilit; of contact with uietable by a foot of an; of
the persons present, during the entire continuance of the
knockings and jerkings of the table.

Dec. IHh. Sounds from table without contact. — All sat
away from the table, without in any manner touching it,
and the sounds, although somewhat fainter, continued to
proceed from it.

Dee. 'iSlh. Movements uiUhout contact. — Question:
" Would the table now be moved without contact i " An-
swer : " Yes," by three raps on the table.

All chairs were then turned with their backs to the table,
and nine inches away from it ; and all present knelt on the
ohairs, with their wrists resting on the backs, and their
bands a few inches above the table.

Under these conditions, the table (the heavy dining-room
table previously described) moved four times, each time
from four to six inches, and the second time nearly twelve
incites.

Then all hands were placed on the backs of the chairs,
and nearly a foot from the table, when four movements
occurred, one stow and continuous, for nearly a minute.
Then all present placed their bands behind their backs,
kneeling erect on their chairs, which were removed a foot
clear away from the tabic ; the gas also was turned up higher,
so as to give abundance of light, and under these test con-
ditions, distinct movements occurred, to the extent of sev-
eral inches each time, and visible to every one present.

The motions were in various directions, towards all parts
of the room — some were abrupt, others steady. At the
same time, and imder the same conditions, distinct raps
occurred, apparently both on the floor and on the table,
in answer to requests for tbem. The above described move-
ments were so unmistakable, that all present unhesitatingly
declared their conviction, that no physical force, exerted

302 MYSTERIOnS PSYCHIO FORCES

hj ftiiy one present^ ocmld possibly have produoed them.
And they declared, farther, in writing^ that a rigid ex-
amination of the table, showed it to be an ordinary dinr
ing-table, with no machinery or apparatus of any Idnd con-
nected with it The taUe was laid on the floor with its 1^
up» and taken to pieces as far as practicable.

Special Obaervatiam.

These experiments are only a repetition and abaolate con-
firmation of those that have been described all throngh this
▼olmne, from its very first pages. Yet they are enough in
themselves alone to justify one's convictions.

This first sulhcommittee, the principal experiments of
whidi we have been giving, was studying only physical phe-
nomena. 8ulHX)mmittee No. 2 was more especially occupied
with intelligent communicationB and mediumistio dictations.
They need not detain us here^ but will find their place in a
special work on Spiritualism.

The same committee published in its general report the
following letter, which it did me the honor of requesting:

I must confess to you, in the first place, gentlemen, that,
of those who call themselves " mediums " and " spiritists,"
a considerable number are persons of limited intelligence,
incapable of bringing the experimental method to bear on
the investigation of this order of phenomena, and conse-
quently are often the dupes of their credulity or ignorance ;
while others, of whom the number is also considerable, are
impostors whose moral sense has become so blunted by the
habit of fraud that they seem to be incapable of appreciat-
ing the heinousness of their criminal abuse of the confi-
dence of those who apply to them for instruction or for
consolation.

And even where the subject is being investigated seriously
and in good faith, the force to which the production of
these phenomena is due is so capricious in its action that
much delay and disappointment is inevitable in the prose-

DIALECTICAL SOCIETY'S EXPERIMENTS 303

cution of anj experimental inquiry in r^ard to them. It
is, therefore, no easy matter to put aside the obetacles thus
placed in the way of the serioua inquirer, to eliminate
these sources of error, and to get at genuine manifesta-
tions of the phenomena in question; carefully guarding
one's own mind against all error, all self-deception in the
methodical and scrupulous examination of the order of
facts now under discussion. Nevertheless, I do not hesi-
tate to affirm my conviction, hased on personal examination
of the subject, that any scientific man who declares the
phenomena denominated " magnetic " " somnambulistic,"
" mediumistic," and others not yet explained by science, to
be " impoeeible," ia one who speaks without knowing what
he is talking about; and also any man accustomed, by his
professional avocations, to scientific observation — provided
that his mind be not biased by preconceived opinions, nor
his mental vision blinded by that opposite kind of illusion,
unhappily too common in the learned world, which con-
sists in imagining that the laws of Nature are already
known to us, and that everything which appears to ovei^
step the limit of our present formulas is impossible — may
acquire a radical and absolute certainty of the reality of
the facts alluded to.

After an affirmation so categorical, it is hardly necessary
for me to assure the members of the Dialectical Society that
I have acquired, through my own observation, the absolute
certainty of the reality of these phenomena. . . .

But although thus compelled, in the absence of conclu-
sive data in regard to the cause of the so-called " Spiritual
Phenomena," to refrain from making any positive affirma-
tion in regard to this part of the subject I may add that
while the general assertion of its spiritual nature, on the
part of the occult force which, within the last quarter of
a century, has thus manifested itself all over the globe,
constitutes a feature of the case which, from its universality,
merits the attention of the impartial investigator — the
history of the human race, from the earliest ages, furnishes
instances of coincidences, previsions and presentiments of
warnings experienced in certain critical moments, of ap-
paritions more or less distinctly seen, which are stated, on

804 MTSTERIOUS PSTCHIO FOBCES

evidence as trnstwortiij as that which ire poaaeaa with re-
gard to any other branch of historical tradition, to have
occurred, spontaneonslyy in the experience of all nationis
and which may therefore be held to strengthen the presump-
tion of the possibility of communication between incarnate
and discamate spirits.

I may also add that my own investigations in the fidds
of philosophy and of modem astronomy have led me^ as is
well known, to adopt a personal and individual way of re-
garding the subject of space and time, the plurality of in-
habited worlds, the eternity and ubiquity of the acting
forces of the universe, and the indestructibility of souls,
as well as of atoms.

The everlastingness of intelligent life ought to be regarded
as the result of die harmonious succession of sidereal incar-
nations.

Our earth being one of the heavenly bodies, a province
of planetary existence, and our present life being a phase
of our eternal duration, it appears only natural (the super-
natural does not exist) that there should exist a permanent
link between the spheres, the bodies, and the souls of the
universe, and therefore altogether probable that the exist-
ence of this link will be demonstrated, in course of time,
by the advance of scientific discovery.

It would be difficult to over-rate the importance of the
questions thus brought forward for consideration; and I
have seen with lively satisfaction the noble initiative which,
through the formation of your Committee of Inquiry, has
been taken by a body of men so justly eminent as the mem-
bers of the Dialectical Society, in the experimental investi-
gation of these deeply interesting phenomena. I am most
happy, therefore, to comply with the tenor of your letter,
by sending you the humble tribute of my observations on
the subject in question, and thus to have the opportunity of
offering to your society the expression of my sincerest good
wishes for the speedy elucidation of the mysteries of nature
that have not yet been brought within the domain of positive
science. I am, sir, yours faithfully,

Camille Flammarion,
10, Rue des Moineaux (Palais Royal).

Paris, May 8, 1870.

DIALECTICAL SOCIEXrS EXPERIMENTS 805

The foregoing resume of the labors of the Dialectical So-
ciety of London eliows once more that mediumistic phe-
nomena long ago entered upon the road of scientific experi-
meuL It would seem as if only the wilfully blind could
henceforth deny their allegiance.

The results of the studiee described also form an answer
to the question frequently asked, whether one can undertake
similar experiments without knowing a true medium. I re-
ply that, in any meeting of a dozen persons, there will al-
ways be one or more mediums. This was proved by the
stances of the Connt de Qaf^arin.

The English report also contains (May 26, 1869) a
communication from the electrician, Cromwell Varley, de-
claring that mediumistic phenomena could not be discredited
by any observer of good faith, and that, to him, the hypothesis
of disembodied spirits is the one that best explains them —
just plain, common spirits (as a general thing), like the
majority of the citizens of our planet.

The scientific experiments of the Dialectical Society's com-
mittee were continued by the " Society for Psychical Re-
search," founded in 1882, the successive presidents of which
were Professor Sidgwick, Professor Balfour Stewart, Pro-
fessor Sidgwick for a second time, Professor Williani
James, Sir William Crookes, Frederick Myers, Sir Oliver
J^dg^ Professor Cichet — all eminent in the departments
of science and education. Let me mention here the splendid
work of Dr. Hodgson and of Professor Hyslop in the Ameri-
can branch of this society.

The experiments were continued, in a masterly way, by
the celebrated chemist, Sir William Crookes, and yielded
him the most wondrous results. My readers will presently
realize this.

CHAPTER IX

THE EZPEBIMEI7T8 OF SIB WTLLIAK OBOOKS8

The learned chemist. Sir William Crookes, member of the*
Royal Society of London, the author of several diaooveries
of the first rank (among which should be placed the dia-
covery, in 1861, of the metal, thallium), and of ingenious
experiments on '^radiant matter," published his first re-
searches on the subject we are here considering in a review of
which he was the editor — the Quarterly Journal of Science.

I had the honor of contributing certain astronomical pa-
pers to this journal.* I will first lay before my readers an
extract from Mr. Crookes's article of the 1st of July, 1871,
entitled " Experimental Investigation of a New Force," in
which he describes his studies with Home. I also had occa-
sion myself more than once to hold conversation with this
medium, f

Twelve months ago in this journal, July 1, 1870, I wrote
an article, in which, after expressing in the most emphatic
manner mv belief in the occurrence, under certain circum-
Stances, of phenomena inexplicable by any known natural
laws, I indicated several tests which men of science had a
right to demand before giving credence to the genuineness
of these phenomena. Among the tests pointed out were,
that a " delicately poised balance should be moved under
teat conditions;" and that some exhibition of power equiv-
alent to so many " foot-pounds " should be " manifested in

* See, for example, the January number, 1876: Sidereal Aatrtmomy.
t Especially at Nice, in 1881 and 1884. Home died in 1886. He was
born in 1833, near Edinburgh.

306

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 307

bis laboratory, where tbe experimentalists could weigh, meas-
ure, and submit it to proper tests." I said, too, that I could
not promise to enter fully into this subject, owing to tbe
difficulties of obtaining opportunities, and the numerous fail-
ures attending the enquiry ; moreover, that " the persons in
whose presence these phenomena take place are few in num-
ber, and opportunities for experimenting with previously
arranged apparatus are rarer still."

Opportunities having since offered for pursuing the in-
vestigation, I have gladly availed myself of them for apply-
ing to these phenomena careful scientific testing experi-
ments, and I have thus arrived at certain definite results
which I think it right should be published. These experi-
ments appear conclusively to establish the existence of a new
force, in some unknown manner connected with the human
organization, which for convenience may be called the Psy-
chic Force.

Of all the persons endowed with a powerful development
of this psychic force, and who have been termed " mediums "
upon quite another theory of its origin, Mr. Daniel Dunglas
Home is the most remarkable, and it is mainly owing to
the many opportunities I have had of carrying on my inves-
tigation in his presence that I am enabled to affirm so con-
clusively the existence of this force. The experiments I
have tried have been very numeroiis, but owing to our im-
perfect knowledge of the conditions which favor or oppose
tbe manifestations of this force, to the apparently capricious
manner in which it is exerted, and to the fact that Mr. Home
himself is subject to unaccountable ebbs and flows of the
force, it has but seldom happened that a result obtained on
one occasion could be subsequently confirmed and tested
with apparatus specially contrived for the purpose.

Among the remarkable phenomena which occur under Mr,
Home's influence, the most striking, as well as the most
easily tested with scientific accuracy, are — (1) tbe alteration
in the weight of bodies, and (2) the playing of tunes upon
musical instruments (generally an accordion, for convenience
of portability) without direct human intervention, under
conditione rendering contact or connection with the keys im-
possible. Kot until I had witnessed these facts some half-

SOS MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

docen tiinBi, and ■onitiiuied Uican witli sU Ae critical m-
men I poaaoai, did I beoame eouTiafled of tiieir objadm
raali^. Still, 'l««Ti"g to plaoa the matter boifand tha
■hadow of doubt, I invited Ur. Bone on aBTCnA orwiwi
to oome to my own hoote, wlken^ in the pnagnoe of a Iw
■dentifle enqturen, tbeae phcmMnnu eoola te fBhaitted to
crucial czperimentL

The meeting* took place in the embft ia R kigi noD
lighted by gaa. The apparatoa prepaiecT for lh» paxpon
of toting the moremcnta of the aoeordiaB, eoMialad of i
cage, fonaed of two vooden hoopa, xeapeom^ 1- A*"' ^'^
indue and S feet diameter, connected tagaChar 1^ IS nar-
row laths, each 1 foot 10 inchee loofc io aa to totm a dram-
shaped fram^ open at the top ana bottam; vmaA thu 50
yards of insulated copper wire were voimd in M- noadi,
each being rather leas than an inch from ita ndi^ihar. Tbt
horizontal strands of wire were then netted together Itxaij
with string, so as to form meshes rather leaa &an 8 iuelwa
long by 1 inch high. The height of this cage was such that
it would just slip tmder my dining-table, but be too close
to the top to allow of the hand being introduced into the
interior, or to admit of a foot being pushed underneath it.
In another room were two Grove's cells, wires being led from
them into the dining-room for connection, if desirable, with
the wire Burrounding the cage.

The accordion was a new one, having been purchased hj
myself for the purpose of these experiments at Wheatrtone's,
in Conduit Street. Mr. Home had neither handled nor seeo
the instrument before the commencement of the test ex-
periments.

In another part of the room an apparatus was fitted up
for experimenting on the alteration in the weight of a body.
It consisted of a maht^any board, 36 inches long liy 9^^
inches wide and 1 inch thick. At eadi end a strip of ma-
hogany 1 ^ inches wide was screwed on, forming fwL One
end of the hoard rested on a firm table, whilst the other end
was supported by a spring balance hanging from a substan-
tial tripod stand. The balance was fitted with a self-regia-
tering index, in such a manner that it would record the
maximum weight indicated by the pointer. The apparatus

Plate XFI, Caoe of Copper Wirb, Elkctbicai-i.t CHAiiflEif,
Used ut 1'rokkb!w>r rRonKKx im the Hohb

•' 'I

iili

1 » '■

•1' i

I* I

"1. ■;

i'^' :

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 809

was adjusted so that the mahogany board was horiontal, its
foot resting flat on the support. In this position its weight
was 3 lbs., as marked bj the pointer of the balance.

Before Mr. Home entered the room the apparatus had
been arranged in position, and he bad not even the object
of some parts of it explained before sitting down. It may,
perhaps, be worth while to add, for the purpose of anticipat-
ing some critical remarks which are likely to be made, that in
the afternoon I called for Mr. Home at his apartments, and
when there be suggested that, as he bad to change hia dress,
perhaps I should not object to continue oar conversation in
his bedroom. I am, therefore, enabled to state positively,
that no machinery, apparatus, or contrivance of any sort was
secreted about bis person.

The investigators present on the test occasion were an
eminent physicist, high in the ranks of the Royal Society,*
a well-known Serjeant-at-Law ;f my brother; and my chem-
ical assistant

Mr. Home sat in a low easy-chair at the side of the table.
In front of him under the table was the aforesaid cage, one
of his legs being on each side of it. I sat close to him on
bis left, and another observer sat close to him on bia rig^t,
the rest of the party being seated at convenient distanoea
round the table.

For the greater part of the evening, particularly when any-
thing of importance was proceeding, the observers on each
side of Mr, Home kept their feet respectively on his feet,
so as to be able to detect bia slightest movement.

The temperature of the room varied from 68 degrees to
70 degrees F.

Mr. Home took the accordion between the thumb and
middle finger of one hand at the opposite end to the keys
(see PI. XII A) (to save repetition this will be subeie-
qnently called " in the usual manner "),

Having previously opened the bass key myself, and the
cage being drawn from under the table so as just to allow
the accordion to be pushed in with its keys downwards, it

* Sir William Huggina, in wrtronomer mil known for his discoveriea
in Bpectrum analysis,
t Edward William Cox.

810 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

was pushed back as close as Mr. Home's arm would penniti
but without hiding his hand from these next to him (PL
XII, Cut B). Very soon the acoordion was seen by those on
each side to be waving about in a somewhat curious manner;
then sounds came from it, and finally several notes were
played in succession. Whilst this was going on, my assistant
went under the table, and reported that the accordion was ex-
panding and contracting; at the same time it was seen that
the hand of Mr. Home l^ which it was held was quite still,
his other hand resting on the table.

Presently the accordion was seen by those on rither side
of Mr. Home to move about, oscillating and going round
and round the cage, and playing at the same time. Dr. A.
B. now looked under the table, and said that Mr. Home^i
hand appeared quite still whilst the accordion was moving
about emitting distinct sounds.

Mr. Home still holding the accordion in the usual manner
in the cage, his feet being held by those next him, and his
other band resting on the table, we heard distinct and sepa-
rate notes sounded in succession, and then a simple air was
played. As such a result could only have been produced by
the various keys of the instrument being acted upon in har-
monious succession, this was considered by those present to
be a crucial experiment

But the sequel was still more striking, for Mr. Home then
removed bis hand altogether from the accordion, taking it
quite out of the cage, and placed it in the hand of the person
next to him. The instrument then continued to play, no per-
son touching it and no hand being near it.

I was now desirous of trying what would be the effect of
passing the battery current round the insulated wire of the
cage, and my assistant accordingly made the connection with
the wires from the two Grove's cells. Mr. Home again held
the instrument inside the cage in the same manner as be-
fore, when it immediately sounded and moved about vigor-
ously. But whether the electric current passing round the
cage assisted the manifestation of force inside, it is impossi-
ble to say.

After this experiment, the accordion, which he kept hold-
ing in one hand, then commenced to play, at first chords and

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 311
nma, and afterwards a well-known Bweet and plaintive mel-
ody, which wttB executed perfectly in a very beautiful man-
ner. Whilst this tune was being played I grasped Mr.
Home's arm, below the elbow, and gently slid my band down
it until I toncbed the top of the accordion. He was not
moving a muscle. His other band was on the table, visible
to all, and his feet were nnder the feet of those next to him.

Having met with aucb striking results in the experiments
with tbe accordion in the cage, we turned to the balance
. apparatus already described. Mr. Home placed the tips of
bis fingers lightly on tbe extreme end of the mahogany board,
which was resting on the support, whilst Dr. A. B. and
myself sat, one on each side of it, watching for any effect
which might be produced. Almost immediately tbe pointer
of the balance was seen to descend. After a few seconds it
rose again. This movement was repeated several times, as
if by successive waves of the psychic force. The end of tbe
board was observed to oscillate slowly up and down during
tbe experiment.

Mr. Home now of his own accord took a small hand-bell
and a little card mateb-box, which happened to be near, and
placed one under each hand, to satisfy us, as he said, that
he was not producing the downward pressure (see Fig. S).
The very slow oscillation of the spring balance became more
marked, and Dr. A. B., watching the index, said that he
saw it descend to fii.^ lbs. The normal weight of the board
as so suspended being 3 lbs., the additional downward pvU
was therefore 3^^ lbs. On looking immediately afterwards
at the automatic roister, we saw that the index had at one
time descended as low as 9 lbs., showing a maxlmnm pull of
6 lbs. upon a board whose normal weight was 3 lbs.

In order to see whether it was possible to produce much
effect on I'le ^ring balance by pressure at the place where
Mr. Home'b fingers bad been, I stepped upon tbe table and
stood on one foot at the end of the board. Dr. A. B., who
was observing the index of the balance, said that the whole
weight of my body (140 lbs.) so applied only sank the index
IV2 lbs., or 2 lbs. when I shook itt Mr. Home had been
sitting in a low easy-chair, and could not, therefore, had
he tiled bis utmost, have exerted any material influence

312 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

on these results. I need Bcarcely add that hia feet as nil
as his hands were cloaelj guarded by oU in the room.

This experiment appears to me more striking, if posuble,
than the one with the accordion. As will be seen on le-
f erring to tho cut (Fig, 3), the board was arranged per
fectly horizoQtall;, and it was particularly noticed that Mr.
Homo's fingers were not at any time advanced more thin
IY2 inches from the extreme end, as shown by a pendl-
mark, which, with Dr. A. B.'8 acquiescence, I made at the

time Kow, the wooden foot being also IV^ inches wide, and
reatiug Hut on tin.' table, it is evident that no amount of
pressure exerlinl witliin fliis space of ly^ inches could pro-
duce any action on tlic balance. Again, it is also evident
that when tlie end farthest from Mr, Home sank, the boarJ
would turn on the farther edge of this foot as on a fulcrnm.
The arrangement was consequently that of a see-aaw, 38
inches in length, the fulcrum being 1^ inches from one end;
were he, therefore, to have exerted a downward pressure, it
would have been in opposition to the force which was caustiig
the other end of the board to move down.

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 313

The slight downward pressare shown b; the balance when
I stood on the board was owing probably to my foot extend-
ing beyond this fulcrum.

■ I have DOW given a plain, unvarnished statement of the
facts from copious notes written at the time the occurrencea
were taking place, and copied out in full immediately after.

Respecting the cause of these phenomena, the nature of the
force to which, to avoid periphrasis, I have ventured to give
the name of Psychic, and the correlation existing between
that and the other forces of nature, it would be wrong to
hazard the most vague hypothesis. Indeed, in inquiries con-
nected so intimately with rare physiological and psycho-
Ic^ical conditions, it is the duty of the inquirer to abstain
altogether from framing theories until he has accumidated
a sufficient number of facts to form a substantial basis upon
which to reason. In the presence of strange phenomena as
yet unexplored and unexplained following each other in such
rapid succession, I confess it is difficult to avoid clothing
their record in language of a sensational character. But, to
be successful, an inquiry of this kind must be under-
taken by the philosopher without prejudice and without sen-
timent. Romantic and superstitious ideas should be entirely
banished, and the steps of his investigation should be guided
by intellect as cold and passionless as the instruments he uses.

Apropos of this Mr. Cox wrote to Mr. Crooks:

The results appear to me conclusively to establish the
important fact, that there is a force proceeding from the
nerve-system capable of imparting motion and weight to
solid bodies within the sphere of its influence.

I noticed that the force was exhibited in tremulous pulsa-
tions, and not in the form of steady continuous pressure, the
indicator rising and falling incessantly throughout the ex-
periment. The fact seems to me of great significance, as
tending to confirm the opinion that assigns its source to the
nerve organization, and it goes far to establish Dr. Richard-
son's important discovery of a nerve atmosphere of various
intensity enveloping the human structure.

Your experiments completely confirm the conclusion at

814 MTSTEBIOUS PSTCHIC FOBOES

which the Investigation Committee of the Diaketical Sodetj
arrivedy after more than forty meetings for trial and test

Allow me to add that I can find no evidence even tendiig
to prove that this force is other than a force praeeediiig
from, or directly dependent npon^ the hnman organitttiflp,
and therefore, like all other forces of natn^ wholly widun
the province of that strictly scientific investigation to whidi
you have been the first to subject it

Now that it is proved by mechanical tests to be a fut
in nature (and if a fact, it is impossible to exaggerate its
importance to physiology and the light it must throw npoa
the obscure laws of life, of mind and the science of medi-
cine) it cannot fail to command the immediate and most
earnest examination and discussion by physiolqgistB and hj
all who take an interest in that knowledge of ^^ man/' which
has been truly termed '' the noblest study of mankind."

To avoid the appearance of any foregone conclusion, I
would recommend the adoption for it of some appropriate
name, and I venture to suggest that the force be termed the
Psychic Force; the persons in whom it is manifested in ex-
traordinary power Psychics; and the science relating to it
Psychism as, being a branch of psychology.

The preceding article was published separately by Wil-
liam Crookes in a special brochure which lies before me^*
and which contains, in addition, the following study, not
less curious from the human and anecdotical point of view
than from the point of view of the experimenter in physics :

When I first stated in this journal that I was about to
investigate the phenomena of so-called Spiritualism, the an-
nouncement called forth universal expressions of approval.
One said that my ^' statements deserved respectful consid-
eration " ; another expressed '^ profound satisfaction that the
subject was about to be investigated by a man so thoroughly
qualified as," etc. ; a third was ^^ gratified to learn that the

* Experimental Investiffation on Psychic Force, by William Crookes,
F. R. L., etc., London, Hennr Oilman, 1871. The brochure was trans-
lated into French by M. Audel, Paria. Psychical Science Publiahing
Hous^ 1897.

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WIL CROOKES 315

matter u now leoeiviiig tbs attention of cool and clear-beaded
men of reoognized poBition in science " ; a fourth asserted
that " no one could doubt Mr. Crookes's ability to conduct
the investigation with rigid philosophical impartiali^ " ; and
a fifth was good enough to tell its readers that " if men like
Mr. Crookee grapple with the subject, taking nothing for
granted mitil it is proved, we shall soon know how much
to heUeve."

These remarks, however, were written too hastily. It was
taken for granted by the writers that the results of my ex-
periments would be in accordance with their preconceptions.
What they really desired was not the truth, but an additional
witness in favor of their own foregone conclusion. When
they found that the facts which that investigation established
cotUd not be made to fit those opinions, why — " so much the
worse for the facts." They try to creep out of their own
confident recommendations of the enquiry by declaring that
" Mr. Home is a clever conjurer, who has duped uh all."
" Mr, Crookes might, with equal propriety, examine the per-
formances of an Indian ju^ler." " Mr. Crookes must get
better witnesses before he can be believed." " The thing is
too absurd to he treated seriously." " It is impossible, and
therefore can't he." * " The observers have all been biol-
ogized ( !) and fancy they saw things occur which really
never took place," etc.

These remarl^ imply a curious oblivion of the very func-
tions which the scientific enquirer has to fulfill. I am
scarcely surprised when the objectors say that I have been
deceived merely because they are unconvinced without per-
sonal investigation, since the same unscientific course of a
priori argument has been opposed to all great discoveries.
When I am told that what I describe cannot be explained
in accordance with preconceived ideas of the laws of nature,
the objector really begs the very question at issue, and re-
sorts to a mode of reasoning which brings science to a stand-
still. The argument runs in a vicious circle: we must not
assert a fact till we know that it is in accordance with the
laws of nature, while our only knowledge of the laws of

816 MYSTEEIOUS PSYCHIC FOBOES

nttuie must be bued on an eztenaive obeervatioD of faet&
If A new fact seems to oppose what is called a law of natoi^
it does not prove the asserted fact to be false^ bat only that
we have not jet ascertained all the laws of nature, or not
learned them correctly.

In his opening address before the British Association at
Edinburgh this year (1871), Sir William Thomson said,
'' Science is bound by the everlasting law of honor to &oe
fearlessly every problem which can fairly be presented to
it'' My object in thus placing on record the results of a
very remarkable series of experiments is to present such a
problem, which, according to Sir William Thomson, ^* Sci-
ence is bound by the everlasting law of honor to face fear-
lessly/' It will not do merely to deny its existence, or tiy
to sneer it down. Bemember, I haaurd no hypothesis or
theory whatever; I merely vouch for certain facts, my only
object being — the truth. Doubt, but do not deny; point
out, by the severest criticism, what are considered fallacies
in my experimental tests, and suggest more conclusive trials ;
but do not let us hastily call our senses lying witnesses
merely because they testify against preconceptions. I say
to my critics, Try the experiments; investigate with care
and patience as I have done. If, having examined, you
discover imposture or delusion, proclaim it and say how it
was done. But, if you find it be a fact, avow it fearlessly,
as " by the everlasting law of honor " you are bound to do.

In this part of his work Professor Crookes recalls the ex-
periments of Count de Qasparin and of Thury (detailed
above) on the phenomenon of the movement of bodies without
contact, a thing proved and demonstrated. We need not
recur to that. lie adds that the ecteneic force of Professor
Thury and psychical force are equivalent terms, and that the
nervous atmosphere or fluid of Dr. Benjamin Richardson
also belongs here.

Professor Crookes sent his observations to the Boyal So*
ciety, of which he is a member. The society refused his
communications. The evidence goes to show that it had

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 817

only approved of the gifted chemist's mixing in heretical
and occult researches on consideration of bis demonstrating
the fallacy of all those podigies.

Professor Stokes, the secretary, refused to consider the
subject at all, or to inscribe even tie title of the paiwrs in

S18 IfTSTEBIOUS P8TCHI0 FOBCES
tbs aode^i pnUieationa. It was an exact mpethiim of
what took place at the Academy of Seienw in Faiu in tSSi.
Froieasor Croo^ acomed tbeee arlatrary and mti-wamtife
jndgmenta and denials and answered them l^ pnbliahii^ tha
detailed description of bis experiments. The foUowuig an
the eeieDtial pointa of this deacription:

^^■BJi^^d^^^^ ^1

r— r^, ,

On trying these experiments for the first time, I thooglit
that actual contact between Mr. Home's hands and the em-
pended body whose weight was to be altered was essential
to the exhibition of the force ; but I found afterwards that
this was not a necessary condition, and I therefore arranged
my apparatus in the following manner:

The accompanying cots (Figs. 4, 5, 6) explain the a^
rangement. Fig. 4 is a general view, and Figs. 5 and 6
show the essential parts more in detail The reference let-
ters are the same in each illustration. A B is a mahogaoy
board, S6 inches long by 0^^ inches wide and 1 inch &ck.
It is snapended at the end, B, by a spring balance, C, fa^

EXPEMMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 319

nished with an lutomatic register, D. The balance is sus-
pended from a veTy firm tripod support, E.

The following piece of apparatus is not shown in the fig>
ures. To the moving index, O, of the spring balance, a fine
steel point is soldered, projecting horizontally outwards. In
front of the balance, and firmly fastened to it, is a grooved
frame carrying a flat box similar to the dark box of a photo-
graphic camera. This box is made to travel by clock-work
horizontally in front of the moving index, and it contains a
sheet of plate-glass which has been smoked over a flame.
The projecting steel point impresaes a mark on this smoked
surface.

If the balance is at rest, and the clock set going, the result
is a perfectly straight horizontal line. If the clock is
stopped and weights are placed on the end, B, of the board,
the result is a vertical line, whoae length depends on the
weight applied. If, whilst the clock draws the plate along,
the weight of the board (or the tension on the balance) va-
ries, the result is a curved line, from which the tension in
grains at any moment during the continuance of the experi-
ments can be calculated.

The instrument was capable of registering a diminution
of the force of gravitation as well as an increase; r^is-
trations of such a diminution were frequently obtained. To
avoid complication, however, I will only here refer to results
in which an increase of gravitation was experienced.

The end, B, of the board being supported by the spring
balance, the end. A, is supported on a wooden strip, F,
screwed across its lower aide and cut to a knife edge (see
Fig, 6). This fulcrum rests on a firm and heavy wooden
stand, G H. On the board, exactly over the fulcrum, is
placed a large glass vessel filled with water, I. L is a
massive iron stand, furnished with an arm and ring, M N,
in which rests a hemispherical copper vessel perforated with
several holes at the bottom.

The iron stand is two inches from the board, A B, and
the arm and copper vessel, M N, are so adjusted that the
latter dips into the water IV^ inches, being 51/^ inches from
the bottom of I, and 2 inches from its circumference. Sbak<
ing or strikiog the arm, H, or the vessel, N, produces no

820

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIO FORCES

•ppn'oiiiblp mccliunk-ul effect on tbe board, A B, capable of
vFei.-titig tlic balaiipr. Dipping the hand to the fullest ex-
tent into the water in N, does not produce the least apprwi
•bli- KCtiun on the balant^c

As the mechanical transmission of power by Mr. Home
U by this mean* entirely cut off between the copper vessel
Mid the board, A B, it follows that the power of muacuUf
control is llK'reby cowpletely eliminated.

There was always ample light in the room where the
experiments were conducted (my own dining-room) to eee
•11 that took place. Furthermore, I repeated the experi-
ments, not only with Mr. Home, but also with another pe^
■On posaessing similar powers.

Experiment I. — The apparatus having been properly ad-
justed before Mr. Home entered the room, he was brought
in, and asked to place his fingers in the water in the copper
vessel, N. He stood up and dipped the tips of the fingers
of his right band in the water, his other hand and bis feet
being held. When be said he felt a power, force, or infiu-
ence, proceeding from his hand, I set the clock going, and
almost immediately the end, B, of tbe board was seen to
descend slowly and remain down for about 10 seconds; it
then descended a little farther, and afterwards rose to its
normal height It then descended again, rose saddeoly,
gradually sunk for 17 seconds, and finally rose to its normal
height, where it remained till the experiment was concluded.
The lowest point marked on the glass was equivalent to a di-
rect pull of about 5,000 grains. The accompanying figure
7 is a copy of the curve traced on the glass.

Experiment II. — -Contact through water having proved

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 321

to be as effectual as actual mechanical contact, I wished to
Bee if the power or force could affect the wei^t, either
through other portions of the apparatus or throu^ the air.
The glass vessel and iron etand, etc., were therefore re-
moved, as an unneceBsary complication, and Mr. Home's
hands were placed on the stand of the apparatus at P (Fig.
4). A gentleman present put his hand on Mr. Home's
hands, and his foot on both Mr. Home's feet, and I also
watched him closely all the time. At the proper moment the
clock was again set going; the board descended and rose in

"F^

'VJT

an irregular manner, the result being a curved tracing on the
glass, of which Fig, 8 is a cop;.

Experiment III, — Mr. Home was now placed 1 foot from
the board, A B, on one side of it. Hie hands and feet were
firmly grasped by a bystander, and another tracing, of which
Fig. 9 is a copy, was taken on a moving glass plate.

Experiment IV. — (Tried on an occasion when the power
was stronger than on the previous occasions.) Mr. Home
was now placed three feet from the apparatus, his hands
and feet being tightly held. The clock was set going when

322

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIO FOSCEB

he gave the word, and tlie end, B^ of the board eooB db-
■oended, and again rose in an irregular manner^ as ahoim ia

10.
The following series of experiments were tried with mm
delicate apparatus, and with another peraoD, a la^y Xc
Home being absent As the lady is non-prof eaaiom al^ I do

Tm. 11.

not mention her name. She has, however, consented to
meet any scientific men whom I may introduce for purposes
of investigation.

A piece of thin parchment, A, Figs. 11 and 12, is stretched
tightly across a circular hoop of wood. B C is a li^t lever
turning on D. At the end, B, is a vertical needle-point
touching the membrane. A, and at C is another needle-point,
projecting horizontally and touching a smoked glass plate^

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 323
E F. This glass plate is drawn along in the direction, H Q,
1^ clockwork, E. The end, S, of the lever ia weighted so
tbat it shall quickly follow the morements of the centre of
the disc, A. These movements are transmitted and recorded
on the glass plate, £ F, by means of the lever and needle
point, C. Holes are cut in the aide of the hoop to allow a
free passage of air to the under side of the membrane.
The apparatus was well tested beforehand by myself and
others, to see that no shaking orliar on the table or support
would interfere with the results* The line traced by the
point, C, on the smoked glass was perfectly straight in apite
of all our attempts to influence the lever by taking tba
stand or stamping on the floor.

Experiment V. — Without having the object of the inatra-

»i,,.,r,.M.i' — I — ^

ment explained to her, the lady was brought into the room
and asked to place her fingers on the wooden stand at the
points, L M, Fig. 11. I then placed my hands over hers to
enable me to detect any conscious or unconscious movement
on her part Presently percussive noises were beard on the
parchment, resembling the dropping of grains of sand on its
surface. At each percussion a fragment of graphite which
I had placed on the membrane was seen to be projected up-
wards about l-50tb of an inch, and the end, C, of the lever
moved slightly up and down. Sometimes the sounds were as
rapid as those from an induction-coil, whilst at others they
were more than a second apart. Five or six tracings were
taken, and in all cases a movement of the end, C, of the lever
was seen to have occurred with each vibratioD of the mem-
brane.

394 HTSTEBIOnS PSTCHIC FORCES

In some caaes the lady's hands were not ao near the
brane as L M^ bat were at N O, Fig. IS.

The accompanying figoxe 18 gives traei^ga taken £nm
the plates nsed on these oocasions.

Experiment VL — Having met with theae vesnlts in Ur.
Home's absenoe, I was anxious to see what aetion woold be
produced on the instrument in his presence.

Accordingly I asked him to try, bat without ezplaining
the instrument to him.

I grasped Mr. Home's right aim above the wriat and hdd

Wm, 14.

Fio. 16.

his hand over the membrane, about 10 inches from its sur-
face, in the position shown at P, Fig. 12. His other hand
was held by a friend. After remaining in this position for
about half a minute, Mr. Home said he felt some influence
passing. I then set the clock going, and we all saw the
index, C, moving up and down. The movements were much
slower than in the former case, and were almost entirely
unaccompanied by the percussive vibrations then noticed.

Figs. 14 and 15 show the curves produced on the glass
on two of these oocasions.

Figs. 13, 14, 15 are magnified.

These experiments confirm beyond doubt the conclusion

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 82S

at which I arrived in my former paper; namely, the ^ist-
ence of a force osBOciated, in some manner not yet explained,
with the human organization, by which foroe increoaed
weight is capable of being imparted to solid bodies without
physical contact.

Now, however, having seen more of Mr. Home, I think I
perceive what it is that this psychic force uses up for its
development. In employing the terms vital force, or nervous
energy, I am aware that I am employing words which con-
vey very difiCerent significations to many investigators; but
after witnessing the painful state of nervous and bodily pros-
tration in which some of these experiments have left Mr,
Home — after seeing him lying in an almost fainting con-
dition on the floor, pale and speechless — I could scarcely
doubt that the evolution of psychic force is accompanied by
a corresponding drain on vital force.

To witness exhibitions of this force it is not necessary to
have access to known psychics. The force itself is probably
possessed by all human beings, although the individuals en-
<1owed with an extraordinary amount of it are doubtless few.
Within the last twelve months I have met in private fami-
lies five or six persons possessing a sufficiently vigorous de-
velopment to make me feel confident that similar results
might he produced through their means to those here re-
corded, though less intense.

These experiments continued to be the object of bitter
and relentless criticism on the part of the recognised au-
thorities in science and education in England. These per-
sons absolutely refused to recogniee their value. Professor
Crookes amused himself, at times, by replying to these fan-
tastic attacks, but, naturally, without convincing his uncom-
promising opponents. It is unnecessary to reprodnce these
letters here; they can be found in the French edition of
Crookes's Researches. The learned chemist did better still :
he continued his researches into the domain of the Unknown,
and got still more remarkable results — still more extraor-
dinary, more inexplicable, more incomprehensible.

His notes continue as follows:

8S6 HTSTEHIOIIS PSTCHIO FORGES

Like A traveler ezploring some . distant ecmntrj^ the non-
den of whieh have hitherto been known only thiongh leporti
and romon of a vague or distorted dbaracter, bo for foot
years have I been occupied in pushing an inqnixy into a
territory of natural knowledge whieh offers almost viigb
soil to a scientific man.

As the traveller sees in the natural phenomena he msy
witness the action of forces governed by natural lawm where
others see only the capricious intervention of offended god^
so have I endeavored to trace the operation of natural laws
and f oroesy where others have seen only the agenqy of super-
natural beings, owning no laws, and obeying no force but
their own free will.

The phenomena I am prepared to attest are so extraordi-
nary and so directly oppose the most firmly rooted artides
of scientific belief — amongst others, the ubiquity and in-
variable action of the force of gravitation — that, even now,
on recalling the details of wboEit I witnessed, tiiere is an
antagonism in my mind between reason, which pronounces
it to be scientifically impossible, and the consciousness that
my senses, both of touch and sight — and these corrobo-
rated, as they were, by the senses of all who were present, —
are not lying witnesses when they testify against my precon-
ceptions.

But the supposition that there is a sort of mania or de-
lusion whieh suddenly attacks a whole roomful of intelligent
persons who are quite sane elsewhere, and that they all con-
cur to the minutest particulars, in the details of the occur-
rences of which they suppose themselves to be witnesses,
seems to my mind more incredible than even the facts they
attest.

The subject is far more difficult and extensive than it
appears. Four years ago I intended only to devoto a leisure
month or two to ascertain whether certain marvellous oc-
currences I had heard about would stand the test of close
scrutiny. Having, however, soon arrived at the same con-
clusion as, I may say, every impartial inquirer, that there
was " something in it," I could not, as a student of nature's
laws, refuse to follow the inquiry wheresoever the facta
might lead. Thus a few months have grown into a few

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 327

years, and, were my time at my own disposal it would prob-
ably extend still longer.

My principal object will be to place on record a series of
actual occurrences whicb have taken place in my own bouse,
in tbe presence of trustworthy witnesses, and under as strict
test conditions as I could devise. Every fact which I have
observed is, moreover, corroborated by the records of inde-
pendent observers at other times and places. It will be seen
that the facts are of the most astounding character, and seem
utterly irreconcilable with all known theories of modem sci-
ence. Having satisfied myself of their truth, it would be
moral cowardice to withhold my testimony because my previ-
ous publications were ridiculed by critics and others who
knew nothing whatever of the subject, and who were too
prejudiced to see and judge for themselves whether or not
there was truth in tbe phenomena. I shall state simply
what I have seen and proved by repeated experiment and
test.

Except where darkness has been a necessary condition, as
with some of the phenomena of luminous appearances, and
a few other instances, eveiything recorded has taken place
in the light. In the few cases where the phenomena noted
have occurred in darkness I have been very particular to
tnentioD the fact Moreover, some special reason can be
shown for the exclusion of light, or the results have been
produced under such perfect test conditions that the sup-
pression of one of the senses has not really weakened the
evidence.

I have said that darkness is not essential. It is, however,
a well-ascertained fact that when the force is weak a bright
light exerts an interfering action on some of the phenomena.
The power possessed by Mr. Home is sufficiently strong to
withstand this antagonistic influence; consequently, he al-
ways objects to darkness at his seances. Indeed, except on
two occasions, when, for some particular experiments of my
own, light was excluded, everything which I have witnessed
with him has taken place in the light. I have had many
opportunities of testing the action of light on different
sources and colors, — such as sunlight, diffused daylight,
moonlight, gas, lamp, and candle-light, electric light Ax)m a

828 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOSGES

yacuum tube, bomogeneouB yellow light, etc. The interCB^
ing rays appear to be those at the extreme end of the q^
trum.

Professor Crookes next proceeds to elassify the phenomeDa
observed by him, going from the more simple to the more com-
plex and giving in rapid review nnder each head, a aketdi of
some of the facts. In the abridgment of his report which
follows I eliminate what has already been fully demonstrated
elsewhere in this book.

FtBST GLASS : The movement of Heavy Bodies wUh Cen^
tact, but without Mechanical Exertion.

(This movement has been folly proved in this volaine.)

Second class : The Phenomena of Percuaeive and o&et
Allied Sounds.

An important question here forces itself upon the atten-
tion. Are the movements and sounds governed by tntetti-
gence f At a very early stage of the inquiry, it was seen that
the power producing the phenomena was not merely a blind
force, but was associated with or governed by intelligence.
Thus the sounds to which I have just alluded will be repeated
a definite number of times. They will come loud or faint,
and in different places at request ; and by a pre-arranged code
of signals, questions are answered, and messages given with
more or less accuracy.

The intelligence governing the phenomena is sometimes
manifestly below that of the medium. It is frequently in
direct opposition to the wishes of the medium. When a
determination has been expressed to do something which
might not be considered quite right, I have known urgent
messages given to induce a reconsideration. The intelligence
is sometimes of such a character as to lead to the belief that
it does not emanate from any person present

Thibd class: The Alteration of Weights of Bodies. —
(Experiments which have been already described.)

Fourth class: Movements of Heavy Substances when
at a distance from the Medium. — The instances in which
heavy bodies, such as tables, chairs, sofas, etc, have been
moved, when the medium has not been touching them, are

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 829

very numerous. I will briefly mention a few of the most
striking. My own chair has been twisted partly round,
whilst my feet were off the floor. A chair was seen by all
present to move slowly up to the table from a far comer,
when all were watching it. On another occasion an arm-
chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly
back again (a distance of about three feet) at my request.
On three successive evenings a small table moved slowly
across the room, under conditions which I had specially pre-
arranged, so as to answer any objection which might be
raised to the evidence. I have had several repetitions of
the experiment considered by the Committee of the Dia-
lectical Society to be conclusive, viz., the movement of a
heavy table, in full light, the chairs turned with their backs
to the table, about a foot ofiP, and each person kneeling on his
chair, with hands resting over the back of the chair, but not
touching the table. On one occasion this took place when I
was moving about so as to see how everyone was placed.

Fifth ci-ass: The Rising of Tables and Chairs off the
Oround, without Contact with any Person.

(We need not recur to these matters.)

Sixth class: The Levitation of Human Beings. — The
most striking cases of levitation which I have witnessed have
been with Mr. Home. On three separate occasions have I
seen him raised completely from the floor of the room.
Once sitting in an easy-chair, once kneeling on his chair,
and once standing up. On each occasion I had full oppor-
tunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place.

There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr.
Home's rising from the ground, in the presence of as many
separate persons, and I have heard from the lips of the three
witnesses to the most striking occurrence of this kind — the
Earl of Dunraven, Lord Lindsay, and Captain C. Wynne —
their own most minute accounts of what took place. To re-
ject the recorded evidence on this subject is to reject all
human testimony whatever ; for no fact in sacred or profane
history is supported by a stronger array of proofs.

Seventh class: Movement of Various Small Articles
vnthout Contact with any Person. — (As in the case of the
sixth class, this is well known to my readers.)

880 MTSTEBIOUS PSTOHIO IX)BCES

Eighth oxjuw: Luminous AppearaneeM. — Theie^ Wag
rather f aint, generally require the room to be darkened, I
need scarcely remind my readers again that» under theae
circumstances^ I have taken proper precautions to avoid be-
ing imposed upon by phoephorixed oil or other means. Man-
over, many of these lights are such as I have tried to imitste
artificially, but cannot

Under the strictest test conditions, I have seen a solii
self-luminous bodv, the sice and nearly the shape of a tnx^
key's egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one tune higher
than any one present could reach standing on tiptoe^ and
then gently descend to the floor. It was visible for mors
than ten minutes, and before it faded away it atroflk the
table three times with a sound like that of a hard solid body.

During this time the medium was lying back, appaien%
insensible, in an easy-chain

I have seen luminous points of light darting about and
settling on the heads of different persons; I have had ques-
tions answered by the flashing of a bright light a desired
number of times in front of my face. I have seen sparks
of light rising from the table to the ceiling, and again fall-
ing upon the table, striking it with an audible sound. I
have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous
flashes occurring before me in the air, whilst my hand was
moving about amongst them. I have seen a luminous doud
floating upwards to a picture. Under the strictest test con-
ditions, I have more than once had a solid, self-luminous,
orystalline body placed in my hand by a hand which did
not belong to any person in the room. In {he light, I have
seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a side
table, break a sprig off, and carry it to a lady ; and on some
occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly con-
dense to the form of a hand and carry small objects about

Ninth class: The Appearance of Hands, either Self-
Luminous or Visible by Ordinary Light. — During a seance
in full light a beautifully-formed small hand rose up from
an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower; it ap-
peared and then disappeared three times at intervals, afford-
ing me ample opportunity of satisfying myself that it was
as real in appearance as my own. This occurred in the li^t

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 331

in my own room, whilst I whs holding the medium's hands
and feet

On another occasiim, a small hand and arm, like a baby's,
appeared playing about a lady who was sitting next to me.
It then patted my arm and pulled my ooat several times.

At another time, a finger and thumb were seen to pick
the petals from a flower in Mr. Home's batton-hole, and lay
them in front of several persons who were sitting near bim.

A band has been repeatedly seen by myself and others
playing the keys of an accordion, both of the medium's bands
being visible at the same time, and sometimes being held by
those near him.

The hands and fingers do not always appear to me to
be solid and life-like. Sometimes, indeed, they present more
the appearance of a nebulous cloud partly condensed into the
form of a hand. This is not equally viaible to all present.
For instance, a flower or other small object is seen to move;
one person present will see a luminous cloud hovering over
it, another will detect a nebutouB-lookiug hand, whilst others
will see nothing at all hut the moving flower. I have more
than once seen, first an object move, then a luminous cloud
appear to form about it, and, lastly, the cloud condense into
shape and become a perfectly-formed hand. At this stage
the band is visible to all present. It is not always a mere
form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful,
the fingers moving, and the fiesh apparently as human as that
of any in the room. At the wrist, or arm, it becomee hazy,
and fades o£E into a luminous cloud.

To the touch, the hand sometimes appears icy-cold and
dead, at other times, warm and life-like, grasping my own
with the firm pressure of an old friend.

I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly
resolved not to lot it escape. There was no struggle or ef-
fort made to get loose, but it gradually seemed to resolve
itself into vapor, and faded in that manner from my grasp.

Tehth class: Direct Wnting. — (The learned chemist
cites some remarkable examples obtained by him. We need
not speak of them in this book.)

Eleventh class : Phantom ForTns and Faces. — These
are the rarest of the phenomena I have witnessed. The oon-

882 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ditions Tequirite for tbeir appearanoe appear to be ao daB-
Gate, and Buch triflea interfere with their prodnctiflii, thit
only on veiy few oooauona have I witnened tibem imder mUr
isf actoiy test oonditiom. I will mention two of theae turn.

In the dusk of the evenin^^ during a atoiea witih lb.
Home at my houBe, the cortaina of a window abovt eq[kt
feet from Mr. Home were seen to move. A dark, ahadofvy,
semi-transparent form, like that of a man, waa then saau
by all present standing near the window, waving the eartaia
with his hand. As we looked, the form fadra away, and
the curtains oeased to move.

The following is a still more striking instanffft As in
the former case, Mr. Home was the mediunL A phantom
form came from a comer of the room, took an aooovdion in
its hand, and then glided about the room playing the inatror
ment. The form was visible to all present for many min-
utes, Mr. Home also being seen at the same time. Coming
rather close to a lady who was sitting apart from the rest
of the company, she gave a slight cry, upon which it van-
ished.

Twelfth class: Special Instances which seem to point
to the Agency of an Exterior Intelligence, — It has already
been shown that the phenomena are governed by an intelli-
gence. It becomes a question of importance as to the source
of that intelligence. Is it the intelligence of the medium, of
any of the other persons in the room, or is it an exterior
intelligence? Without wishing at present to speak posi-
tively on this point, I may say that whilst I have observed
many circumstances which appear to show that the will and
intelligence of the medium have much to do with the phe-
nomena, I have observed some circumstances which seem con-
clusively to point to the agency of an outside intelligence,
not belonging to any human being in the room. Space does
not allow me to give here all the arguments which can be
adduced to prove these points, but I will briefly mention
one or two circumstances out of many.

I have been present when several phenomena were going
on at the same time, some being xmknown to the medium.
I have been with Miss Fox when she has been writing a
message automatically to one person present, whilst a message

EXPEKIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 333

to another person on another subject was being given alpha-
betically by means of ^^ raps/' and the whole time she was
conversing freely with a third person on a subject totally
different from either.

Perhaps a more striking instance is the following :

During a seance with Mr. Home, a small lath, which I
have before mentioned, moved across the table to me, in the
light, and delivered a message to me by tapping my hand, I
repeating the alphabet, and the lath tapping me at the right
letters. The other end of the lath was resting on the table,
some distance from Mr. Home's hands.

The taps were so sharp and clear, and the lath was evi-
dently so well under control of the invisible power which
was governing its movements, that I said, '^ Can the intelli-
gence governing the motion of this lath change the character
of the movements, and give me a telegraphic message through
the Morse alphabet by taps on my hand ? " (I have every
reason to believe that the Morse code was quite unknown
to any other person present, and it was only imperfectly
known to me.) Immediately I said this, the character of the
taps changed, and the message was continued in the way I
had requested. The letters were given too rapidly for me
to do more than catch a word here and there, and conse-
quently I lost the message; but I heard sufficient to con-
vince me that there was a good Morse operator at the other
end of the line, wherever that might be.

Another instance. A lady was writing automatically by
means of the planchette. I was trying to devise a means of
proving that what she wrote was not due to " unconscious
cerebration." The planchette, as it always does, insisted
that, although it was moved by the hand and the arm of the
lady, the intelligence was that of an invisible being who was
playing on her brain as on a musical instrument, and thus
moving her muscles. I therefore said to this intelligence,
" Can yoH see the contents of this room ? " " Yes," wrote
the planchette. " Can you see to read this newspaper ? "
said I, putting my finger on a copy of the Times, which was
on a table behind me, but without looking at it. " Yes,"
was the reply of the planchette. " Well," I said, " if you
can see that, write the word which is now covered by my

884 MYSTERIOUS PSYOHIO EOBCES

finger, and I wiU believe joil" The planohette cmmmfinwd
to move. SIowlj and wiUi great diflBcultj the word ** how-
ever " was written. I turned ronnd and saw that the woid
*^ however '' was covered l^ the tip of my finger.

I had purposely avoided looking at the newiqmper when
I tried this experiment, and it was impoesiUe for the la^ji
had she tried, to have seen any of the printed words^ for shs
was sitting at one taUe, and the paper was on another tabk
behind, my body intervening.

Thibtkenth Cuueib: MiaeeUanmmM Oec ur r$m c€M of a
Complex Character.

(Professor Crookes here cites two examples of the (rvM*
ference of matter through matter, — a bell p»—"T^ from
neighboring room into that in which the s6anoe waa beisg
held, and a flower separating from a bouquet and paaakig
through the table.)

The space at my disposal will not permit me to give more
details here ; but all my readers must appreciate, as I do, the
importanco of these experiments of the eminent chemist. I
will especially call attention to the proofs they afford of the
presence of a mind or intelligence, other than that of the
experimenters; to the formation of hands and spirit-forms;
and to the passage of matter through matter.

These experiments date from the years 1871 to 1873.
During the last mentioned year, a new medium, endowed
with particularly remarkable powers, appeared in London,
namely, Miss Florence Cook, who was bom in 1856, and
was, therefore, seventeen in 1873. Since the preceding year
(1872), she had often seen the apparition by her side of a
young girl. This spectral form had taken a liking to her,
and told her she was called Katie King in the other world,
and had been a lady called Annie Morgan during one of her
lives on earth. Some observers told marvellous stories of
these apparitions, which they also saw, — among them being
William Harrison, Benjamin Coleman, Mr. Luxmore, Dr.
Sexton, Dr. Gully, the Prince of Sayn Wittgenstein, who

EXPEKIMENTS OF SIR WM. CEOOKES 385

have aH published accounts of them which breathe an
air of Bincere belief. Professor Crookes j^t in touch with
this new mediom in December, 1873. In The Spirilualiat
— a journal edited by Mr. HarriBon, at whose home several
sittings had taken place — there appeared in the numbers
for February and March, 1874, two letters from Professor
Crookea. A few extracts from these letters here follow :

I have reason to know that the power at work in these
phenomena, like Love, " laughs at locksmiths."

The seance of which you speak and at which I was pres-
ent, was held at the house of Hr. Luxmore, and the " cab-
inet " was a back drawing-room separated from the front
room in which the company sat by a curtain.

The usual formality of searching the room and examining
the fastenings having been gone through. Miss Cook entered
the cabinet

After a little time the form of Katie appeared at the
aide of the curtain, but soon retreated, saying her medium
was not well, and could not be put into a sufficiently deep
sleep to make it safe for her to be left.

I was sitting within a few feet of the curtain close
behind which Miss Cook was sitting, and I could frequently
hear her moan and sob, as if in pain. This uneasiness con-
tinued at intervals nearly the whole duration of the seance,
and once, when the form of Katie was standing before me in
the room, I distinctly heard a sobbing, moaning sound, iden-
tical ivith that which Miss Cook had been making at intervals
the whole time of the seance, come from behind the curtain
where the young lady was supposed to be sitting.

I admit that the figure was startHngly life-like and real,
and, as far as I could see in the somewhat dim light, the
features resembled those of Miss Cook ; but still the positive
evidence of one of my own senses that the moan came from
Miss Cook in the cabinet, whilst the figure was outside, is
too strong to be upset by a mere inference to the contrary,
however well supported.

Your readers, sir, know me, and will, I hope, believe that
I will not come hastily to an opinion, or ask them to agree
with me on insufficient evidence. It is perhaps expecting

836 MTSTERIOUS PSTCHIO FORCES

too much to think that the littk ineident I ha^B
will have the same iveight with them that it had with m^,
Bot thia I do b^ of them — Let thoae who ava "m**"**^ to
judge Mifla Cook harahly aoapend their judgment vitil I
bring forward poaitive evidence whieh I think wiH be snfr
cient to settle the question.

Miss Cook is now devoting herself ezcluaivdy to a serisi
of private s6anoea with me and one or two frienda. The
8('ance8 will probably extend over aome monthsi and I am
uroinised that every desirable test ahall be given to na
These s&mces have not been going on many wwfa| bat
enough has taken place to thoroughly convince me of tb
perfect truth and honesty of Hiss Cook, and to give ms
every reason to expect tluit the promiaes so freely mads to
me by Eatie will be kept «». ^

Here is the second letter from the cautioua inveatigator:

In a letter which I wrote to this journal early in Februaiy
last, speaking of the phenomena of spirit-forms which have
appeared through Miss Cook's mediumshipy I said, '^Let
those who are inclined to judge Miss Cook harahly suspend
their judgment until I bring forward positive evidence
which I think will be sufficient to settle the question."

In that letter I described an incident which, to my mind,
went very far towards convincing me that Eatie and Miss
Cook were two separate material beings. When Eatie was
outside the cabinet, standing before me, I heard a moaning
noise from Miss Cook in the cabinet I am happy to say
that I have at last obtained the ^* absolute proof " to which
I referred in the above-quoted letter.

On March 12th, during a s6ance here, after Eatie had
been walking amongst us and talking for some time, she
retreated behind the curtain which separated my laboratory,
where the company was sitting, from my library which did
tcmporaiy duty as a cabinet. In a minute she came to the
curtain and called me to her, saying, ^' Come into the room
and lift my medium's head up, she has slipped down."
Katie was then standing before me clothed in her usual
white robes and turban head-dress. I immediately walked
into the library up to Miss Cook, Eatie stepping aside to

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 337

allow roe to pass. I found Miss Cook bad slipped partially
off the sofa, and her bead was banging in a very awkward
position. I lifted her on to tbe sofa, and in so doing bad
satisfactory evidence, in spite of the darkness, tbat Miss
Cook was not attired in the " Katie " costume, but had on
her ordinary black velvet dress, and was in a deep trance.
!Not more than three seconds elapsed between my seeing the
white-robed Katie standing before me and my raising Miss
Cook onto the sofa from the position into which she had
fallen.

On returning to my post of observation by the curtain,
iKatie again appeared, and said she thought she would be
sble to show herself and her medium to me at the same time.
The gas was then turned out and she asked for my phos-
phorus lamp. After exhibiting herself by it for some sec-
onds, she handed it back to me, saying, " Now come in and
see my medium." I closely followed her into the library,
and by the light of my lamp saw Mies Cook lying on the
sofa just as I had left her. I looked round for Katie, but
she had disappeared. I called her, but there was no answer.

On resuming my place, Katie soon reappeared, and told
me tbat she bad been standing close to Miss Cook all the
time. She then asked if she might try an experiment her-
self, and taking the phoephorus lamp from me she passed
behind the curtain, asking me not to look in for the present
In a few minutes she banded the lamp back to me, saying
she could not succeed, as she had used up all the power, but
would try again another time. My eldest son, a lad of four-
teen, who was sitting opposite me, in such a position tbat he
could see behind the curtain, telle me he distinctly saw the
phosphorus lamp apparently floating about in space over
Miss Cook, illuminating her as she lay motionless on the
sofa, hut he could not see anyone holding the lamp.

I pass on to a stance held last night at Hackney. Katie
never appeared to greater perfection, and for nearly two
hours she walked about the room, conversing familiarly with
those present. On several occasions she took my arm when
walking, and the impression conveyed to my mind that it
was a living woman by my side, instead of a visitor from
the other world, was so strong tbat the temptation to repeat
a recent celebrated experiment became almost irresistible.

388 MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

Feelings however, that if I had not a spirit, I had at ill
events a tody dose to me, I asked her permiaaioii to ehi^
her in my arms, so as to be able to verify the interesting
observations which a bold experimentalist has recently some-
what verbosely recorded. Permission was gracionaly given,
and I accordingly did — well, as any genOenum woidd do
nnder the circumstances. Mr. Volckman will be pleased to
know that I can corroborate his statement that the ^ g^iost "
(not ^^ struggling " however) was as material a bnng sa
Miss Cook herself.

Katie now said she thought she would be aUe this time
to show herself and Miss Cook together. I was to torn the
gas out, and then come with my phosphorus lamp into the
room now used as a cabinet This I did, having prevumdy
asked a friend who was skillful at shorthand to take down
any statement I might make when in the cabinet, knowing'
the importance attaching to first impressions, and not wish-
ing to leave more to memory than necessary. His notes are
now before me.

I went cautiously into the room, it being dark, and felt
about for Miss Cook. I found her crouching on the floor.

Kneeling down, I let air enter the lamp, and by its light
I saw the young lady dressed in black velvet, as she had been
in the early part of the evening, and to all appearance per-
fectly senseless; she did not move when I took her hand
and held the light quite close to her face, but continued
quietly breathing.

Kaising the lamp, I looked around and saw Katie stand-
ing close behind Aliss Cook. She was robed in flowing
white drapery as we had seen her previously during the
seance. Holding one of Miss Cook's hands in mine, and
still kneeling, 1 passed the lamp up and down so as to il-
luminate Katie's whole figure, and satisfy myself thoroughly
that I was really looking at the veritable Katie whom I had
clasped in my arms a few minutes before, and not at the
phantasm of a disordered brain. She did not speak, but
moved lier head and smiled in recognition. Three separate
times did I carefully examine Miss Cook crouching before
me, to be sure that the hand 1 held was that of a living
woman, and three separate times did I turn the lamp to

EXPERIMEXTS OF SIR WM. CROOKF.S Z'M

Katie and examine her with steadfast scnitinv, until I had
no doubt whatever of her objective reality. At last Miss
Cook moved slightly, and Katie instantly motioned me to
go away. I went to another part of the cabinet, and then
ceased to see Katie^ but did not leave the room till Miss
Cook woke up, and two of the visitors came in with a light.

Before concluding this article I wish to give some of the
points of diflFerence which I have observed between Miss
Cook and Katie. Katie's height varies; in my house I
have seen her six inches taller than Miss Cook. Last night,
with bare feet, and not " tiptoeing," she was four-and-a-half
inches taller than Miss Cook. Katie's neck was bare last
night ; the skin was perfectly smooth both to touch and sight,
whilst on Miss Cook's neck is a large blister, which imder
similar circumstances is distinctly visible and rough to the
touch. Katie's ears are unpierced, whilst Miss Cook habit-
ually wears earrings. Katie's complexion is very fair, while
that of Miss Cook is very dark. Katie's fingers are much
longer than Miss Cook's, and her face is also larger. In
manners and ways of expression there are also many decided
differences.

After the observations sununarized in these two letters
Professor Crookes continued his experiments at his own
home, for a space of two months. The result of all is em-
bodied in the following statements made by Crookes him-
self :

During the week before Katie took her departure she
gave seances at my house almost nightly, to enable me to
photograph her by artificial light Five complete sets of
photographic apparatus were accordingly fitted up for the
purpose, consisting of five cameras, one of the whole-plate
size, one half-plate, one quarter-plate, and two binocular
stereoscopic cameras, which were all brought to bear upon
Katie at the same time on each occasion on which she stood
for her portrait. Five sensitizing and five fixing baths were
used, and plenty of plates were cleaned ready for use in
advance, so that there might be no hitch or delay during

840 IfYSTERIOUS PSTCHIO FOBCES

the photognphio openitioiu, which wen perf omied Ij nj^
self y aided by one aaslBtiit

Mj library was used as a dark eabiiiet It has Idding
doon opening into the laboratory; one of then doon wu
tidcen off its hinges, and a curtain suspended in Ub plaoe to
enable Katie to pass in and out easily. Those of ovr friends
who were present were seated in the laboratory fadnc tfas
curtain, and the cameras were placed a little behind ueoi
ready to photograph Eatie when she came outsidey and to
photograph anything also inside the cabinet, whenever the
curtain was withdrawn for the purpose. Eadi evening there
were three or four exposures of plates in the five oamerasi
giving at least fifteen separate pictures at each sfianoe ; some
of these were spoilt in the developing, and some in regula^
ing the amount of light Altogether, I have lorty-fonr nega-
tives, some inferior, some indifferent, and some excellent

Eatie instructed all the sitters but myself to keep their
scats and to keep conditions ; but for some time past she has
given me permission to do what I liked — to touch her, and
to enter and leave the cabinet almost whenever I pleased. I
have frequently followed her into the cabinet, and have
sometimes seen her and her medium together, but most gen-
erally I have found nobody but the entranced medium lying
on the floor, Eatie and her white robes having instantane-
ou'«ly disappeared.

During the last six months Miss Cook has been a fre-
qiiont visitor at my bouse, remaining sometimes a week at
a time. She brings nothing with her but a little hand-bag,
not locked. During the day she is constantly in the pres-
ence of Mrs. Crookes, myself, or some other member of my
family, and, not sleeping by herself, there is absolutely no
opportunity for any preparation even of a less elaborate
character than would be required for enacting Eatie Eing.
I prepare and arrange my library myself as the dark cabinet,
and usually, after Miss Cook has been dining and convers-
ing with us, and scarcely out of our sight for a minute, she
walks directly into the cabinet, and I, at her request, lock
its second door, and keep possession of the key all through
the stance. The gas is then turned out, and Miss Cook is
left in darkness.

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CROOKES 341

On entering the cabinet; Miss Cook lies down upon the
floor, with her head on a pillow, and is soon entranced.
During the photographic seance, Katie muffled her medium's
head up in a shawl to prevent the light falling upon her
face. I frequently drew the curtain on one side when
Katie was standing near, and it was a common thing for
the seven or eight of us in the laboratory to see Miss Cook
and Katie at the same time, under the full blaze of the
electric light. We did not on these occasions actually see
the face of the medium because of the shawl, but we saw
her hands and feet; we saw her move uneasily under the
influence of the intense light, and we heard her moan occa-
sionally. I have one photograph of the two together, but
Katie is seated in front of Miss Cook's head.

During the time I took an active part in these stances
Katie's confidence in me gradually grew, until she refused
to give a seance unless I took charge of the arrangements.
She said she always wanted me to keep close to her, and
near the cabinet, and I found that after this confidence was
established, and she was satisfied I would not break any
promise I might make to her, the phenomena increased
greatly in power, and tests were freely given that would
have been unobtainable had I approached the subject in
another manner. She often consulted me about persons pres-
ent at the seances, and where they should be placed, for of
late she had become very nervous, in consequence of certain
ill-advised suggestions that force should be employed as an
adjunct to more scientific modes of research.

One of the most interesting of the pictures is one in which
I am standing by the side of Katie; she has her bare foot
upon a particular part of the floor. Afterwards I dressed
Miss Cook like Katie, placed her and myself in exactly the
same position, and we were photographed by the same cam-
eras, placed exactly as in the other experiment, and illum-
inated by the same light. When these two pictures are
placed over each other, the two photographs of myself co-
incide exactly as regards stature, etc., but Katie is half a
head taller than Miss Cook, and looks a big woman in com-
parison with her. In the breadth of her face, in many of
the pictures, she differs essentially in size from her medium,

844 MTSTEKIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

and had Bbamefully deceived the eminent sciential, and u
for mediuniB, wliy there u-as only one absolutely tmsttcofths
and that was himself, Daniel Dunglaa Home! He even
added that the iiance »£ Miss Cook bad given striking proofs
of ber extreme cautankcrousness !

He who has observed at close hand the rivalries of mf-

diums — whieh are as strongly marked as those of doctors,

(ctors, mosicians and women — will not, it aeems to me,

id in thia talk of Home any intrinsic value whatever. Bui

must confess that this mutter of Katie King is really so

ttraordinarj that I am forced to try every possible ex-

anation before admitting its truth. This is also the

nion of Mr. Crookea himself.

In order to convince myself (says he) I was constantly
on my guard, and Miss Cook readily assisted me in all my
investigations. Every test that I have proposed she has at
once agreed to submit to with the utmost willingness; she
is open and straightfor^vard in speech, and I have never
seen anything approaching the slightest symptom of a wiflh
to deceive. Indeed, I do not believe she could carry on a
deception if she were to try, and if she did she woidd cer-
tainly be found out very quickly, for such a line of action is
altogether foreign to her nature. And to imagine that an
innocent school-girl of fifteen would be able to conceive and
then successfully carry out for three years so gigantic an
imposture as this, and in that time would submit to any teat
which might be imposed upon her, would bear the strictest
scrutiny, would be willing to be searched at any time, either
O)efore or after a seance, and would meet with even better
taccess in my own house than at that of her parents, knowing
tnBt she visited me with the express object of submitting to
strict scientific tests — to imagine, I aay, the Katie King
of the last three years to be the result of imposture does
more violence to one's reason and common sense than to
believe her to be what she herself afiirms.

It vill perhaps not be superfluous to romid out these ac-

aiENTS OF SIB WM. CHOOKES 345

Crookes bj giving an extract from the
vitualiat of the 29th of May, 1874.

timiiig of the mediumship of Misa Cook, the
_ or Annie Morgan, who had produced the
of the physical part of the manifestations,
that she would not be able to be with her
than three jears, and that after that time
od-bye to her forever,

it period came last Thursday; but before
dimn, she gave her friends three more

place on Thursday, the 21at of May, 1874.
itoFB was Prof. William Crookea.

evening Professor Crookes led Mis8 Cook
binet, where she lay down upon the floor,

OB a cushion. At 7.28 Katie spoke for
1 at 7.30 she showed herself outside of the
U form. She was dressed in white, short
teck. She had long light auburn hair of a
in curls on each side of her head and down
vaist. She wore a long white veil which
)wn over her face more than once or twice

tire a light blue merino robe. During al-

the a^nce, Katie remained standing before

of the cabinet was drawn aside and all

lee the medium lying asleep, having her

a red shawl, in order to shield it from the

ke of her approaching departure and ac-

which Mr. Tapp had brought her, as well

B8 offered by Mr, Crookes. She asked Mr.

t bouquet and to put the flowers before her

le then sat down in the Turkish style and

around her in the same way. Then she di-

in and gave to each a little bouquet tied up

Tote letters to some of her friends, signing
Owen Morgan," saying that was her true
her life on earth. She also wrote a letter to

M« MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

her medinxn, and choee for her a roeebud as a good-bye fpfi.
Eatie then took the sdssorB, eat off a lock of her hair and
gave some of it to all of ub. She then took Mr. GvookM^
hand and made the tour of the room, pressing the hand of
each of ns in turn. She then sat down again and cot off
several pieces of her robe and of her veil for remembranees.
Seeing such holes in her robe (she being seated all thia while
between Mr. Crookes and Mr. Tapp), some one aaked her
if she could repair the damage, as she had done on previous
occasions. She then held the cut part of the robe in the
light, gave one rap upon it, and instantly that part was
whole and unblemished as before. Those near her touched
and examined the stuff, with her permission. They affirmed
that there was neither hole nor seam, nor anythuig added
at the very place where an instant before they had seen
holes several inches in diameter.

She next gave her last instructions to Mr. Crookes. Then,
seeming fatigued, she added that her force was disappearing,
and repeated her good-bye to evoryonc in the most affection-
ate manner. All present thanked her for the wonderful
manifestations which she had given them.

While she was directing toward her friends a last grave
and pensive look, she let fall the curtain, and it hid her
from our view. We heard her waking up the medium, who
begged her with tears to remain a litQe longer. But Katie
said, " It is impossible, my dear ; my mission is accom-
plished ; God bless you ! ** And we heard the sound of a
kiss. The medium then came out among us wholly ex-
hausted and in a state of deep dismay.

Such are the experiments of Sir William Crookes. I have
restricted myself to relating his own personal observations,
as set forth by himself. The story of Katie King is truly
one of the most mysterious, the most incredible, to be found
in the whole history of Spiritualistic research, and is at the
same time, one of the cases that have been most scrupulously
studied by the experimental method, including photography.

The medium, Miss Florence Cook, married in 187* Mr.

EXPERIMENTS OF SIK WM. CROOKES 347

Elgie Comer, and, from that time on, her oontributioiia to
pfljchical research ahnoet ceased. I have several times been
assured that she also had been caught in the very act of
cheating. (Always that feminine hysteria I) But the in-
vestigations of Crookes were conducted with auch care and
competence, that it is very difficult to refuse our credence.
Besides, this scientist was not the only one to study the
mediumehip of Florence Cook. Among other works that
may be consulted on this subject is one oontaining a large
number of proo& and testimonies, as well as several photo-
graphs (alluded to above).*

These recorded cases, or testimonies, form a collection of
records, the study of which is most instructive. The study
of the great chemist surpasa the rest, to be sure, but it does
not diminish the intrinsic value of the others. All the ob-
servations agree and mutually confirm each other.

As to the explanation of the phenomena, Crookes thinks
that we cannot discover it. Was this apparition what it
claimed to be } There is nothing to prove it.

Hight it not be a dovble of the medium, a product of her
psychic force ?

The learned chemist did not change his opinion (as has
been claimed) about the authenticity of the phenomena
studied by him. In an address delivered at a meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science, held
at Bristol in 1898, and of which he was President, he ex-
pressed himself aa follows:

No incident in my scientific career is more widely known
than the part I took many years ago in certain psychic re-
searches. Thirty years have passed since I published an
account of experiments tending to show that outside our

■ Katie King, The Btory of X«r Apprnmneee. Paris, Leynarie, 1890.
I thought I would not reproduce tbfne photograplifl here, because thejr
did not seem to me to have come from Mr. Cnwkea hituMlf, Florence
Cook died in London on the 2d of April, 1904.

IMS MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIO FOBCES

flcieiitine knowledge there ezuts a Force ezerdfled hy inteDi-
genoe differing from the ordinary inteUigence eonnnon to
mortals. This fact in my life is, of course, well nndentood
by those who honored me with the invitation to beoome your
President Perhaps among my audience some may feel
curious as to whether I shall speak out or be silenL I eleet
to speak, although briefly.

To enter at length on a still debatable subject would be
to insist on a topic which, — as Wallace, Lodge and Barrett
have already shown, — though not unfitted for discussion at
these meetings, does not yet enlist the interest of the ma-
jority of my scientific brethren. To ignore the subject would
be an act of cowardice, an act of cowardice I fed no tempta-
tion to commit

To stop short in any research that bids fair to widen the
gates of knowledge, to recoil from fear of difficulty or ad-
verse criticism, is to bring reproach on science. There is
nothing for the investigator to do but to go straight on, ^' to
explore up and down, inch by inch, with the taper, his rea-
son ;*' to follow the light wherever it may lead, even should
it at times resemble a will-o^-the wisp.

I have nothing to retract I adhere to my already pub-
lished statements. Indeed, I might add much thereto. I
regret only a certain crudity in those early expositions, which,
no doubt justly, militated against their acceptance by the
scientific world. My own knowledge at that time scarcely
extended beyond the fact that certain phenomena new to
science had assuredly occurred, and were attested by my own
sober senses, and, better still, by automatic record.

I was like some two-dimensional being who might stand
at the singular point of a Riemann's surface, and thus find
himself in infinitesimal and inexplicable contact with a plane
of existence not his own.

I think I see a little farther now. I have glimpses of
Bomething like coherence among the strange elusive phe-
nomena; of something like continuity between those unex-
plained forces and laws already known. This advance is
largely due to the labors of another Association of which I
have also this year the honor to be President — the Society
for Psychical Besearch. And were I now introducing for

EXPERIMENTS OF SIH WIL CROOKES 349

the first time these inquiries to the world of science I should
choose a starting point different from that of old. It would
be well to b^n with teUpaihy; with the fondamental Uw,
as I believe it to be, that thoughts and image* may be trans-
ferred from <Hie mind to another without the agency of the
realized organs of sense, that knowledge may enter the
human mind without being communicated in any hitherto
known or recognized waya.

Although the inquiry haa elicited important facts with
reference to the mind, it has not yet reached the scientific
stage of certainty which woald entitle it to be usefully
brought before one of our sections. I will therefore con-
fine myself to pointing out the direction in which Bcientific
investigation can Intimately advance.

If telepathy take place we have two physical facts — the
physical change in the brain of A, the snggester, and the
analc^us physical change in the brain of B, the recipient
of the suggestion. Between these two physical events there
must exist a train of physical causes. Whenever the con-
necting sequence of intermediate causes Ix^ns to be revealed
the inquiry will then come within the range of one of the
sections of the British Association. 8nch a sequence can
only occur through an intervening medium. All the phe-
nomena of the imi verse are presumably in some way con-
tinous, and it is unscientific to call in the aid of mysterious
agencies when with every fresh advance in knowl^ge it is
shown that ether vibrations have powers and attributes
abundantly equal to any demand — even to the transmission
of thought. It is supposed by some physiologists that the
essential cells of nerves do not actually touch, but are sep-
arated by a narrow gap which widens in sleep while it nar-
rows almost to extinction during mental activity. This con-
dition is so singuarly like that of a Branly or Lodge coherer
as to suggest a further analogy.

The structure of brain and nerve being similar, it is con-
ceivable there may be present masses of such nerve coherers
in the brain whose special function it may be to receive inL-
pulses brought from without through the connecting sequence
of ether waves of appropriate order of magnitude. Rontgen
had familiarized us with an order of vibrations of extreme

860 HTSTEBIOUS PSTCHIC FOBCES

minutaneu compared with the smallest waves with wfaieh
we have hitherto been acquainted^ and of dimensions ooot-
parable with the distances between centers of the atoms of
which the material universe is built up; and there is no
reason to suppose that we have here reached the limit of
frequency. It is known that the action of thought is se-
companied by certain molecular movements in the brain,
and here we have physical vibrations capable from their ex-
treme minuteness of acting directly on individual molecnlea,
while their rapidity approaches tlmt of the internal and ex-
ternal movements of the atoms themselves.

Confirmation of telepathic phenomena is afforded by
many converging experiments, and by many spontaneous
occurrences only thus intelligible. The most varied proof,
perhaps, is drawn from analysis of the sulHX>nscious work-
ings of the mind, when these, whether by accident or de-
sign, are brought into conscious survey. Evidence of a
region below the threshold of consciousness has been pre-
sented, since its first inception, in the **Proceedings of the
Society for Psychical Research ;" and its various aspects are
being interpreted and welded into a comprehensive whole by
the pertinacious genius of F. W. H. Myers.

A formidable range of phenomena must be scientifically
sifted before we eflFectually grasp a faculty so strange, so be-
wildering, and for ages so inscrutable, as the direct action
of mind on mind.

An eminent predecessor in this chair declared that " by
an intellectual necessity he crossed the boundary of experi-
mental evidence, and discerned in that matter, which we, in
our ignorance of its latent powers, and notwithstanding our
professed reverence for its Creator, have hitherto covered
with opprobrium, the potency and promise of all terrestrial
life." I should prefer to reverse the apophthegm, and to
say that in life I see the promise and potency of all forms
of matter.

In old Egyptian days a well-known inscription was carved
over the portal of the temple of Isis : " I am whatever hath
been, is, or ever will be; and my veil no man hath yet
lifted." Not thus do modem seekers after truth confront
Nature, — the word that stands for the baffling mysteries gf

EXPERIMENTS OF SIR WM. CBOOKES 351
the FoiverBc Steadily, imflincliiiigly, we strive to pierce
the inmost heart of Nature, from what she is to reK»iiatruct
what she has been, and to prophesy what she yet shall be.
Veil after veil we have lifted, and her face grows more
beautiful, august, and wonderful, with every barrier that is
withdrawn.

It would be difficult to find truer thought better expressed.
It is the language of true science, and is also the expression
of the highest philosophy.

OSS ^H

CHAPTER X

SUiniBT EIFEBIUENTS A.\D OBSEKVATIOS8

AbandtDt teatiiocmy u to the flxisten<-e of a Iiitherto littlH
explored psychic reilm hu doubtleM been given in the pre-
ceding pBgea. Uedinmistic phenomena proclaim the es-
iitence of tinknown foroee. It in ahoost Guperfluous to heap
up in this pUce a still greater ntunber of recorded instances.

Howerer, these facts are so extraordinary, so incoinpre-
hensibley so hard to believe, that a mere increase in the arnn-
ber of cases is not witlioat value, especially when tbej an
fnmiahed hj men of incontestable skill and learning. The
old law proverb Testis unu«, iestis nullua (" One witness is
no witneBs") is applicable here. We must not verify once,
we must verify a hundred times, such apparently scientific
extravagances, in order to make sure they are not delusions,
but sober facts.

In short, the whole subject is so curious, so strange that
the investigator of these mysteries is never surfeited.

Hence, in addition to what has already been given, I shall
select and present in this place, out of the immense collec-
tion of observations which I have for a long time been
making, those which most strike the attention and give added
confirmation to what has preceded.

In addition to the experimenta of Crookes, it is fitting to
add in this place those of the great English naturalist, Alfred
Russel Wallace, also a member of the Royal Society of Lon-
don, President of the English Anthropological Society, and
well known as the scientist, who at the same time with I}a^
36d

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 353
win (June, 1858), gave to the world the theory of the
variation of species by natural selection.

He himself gives the following account* of his studies in
this matter of the mysterious pyschic force :

It was in the summer of 1865 that I first witnessed any
of the phenomena of what is called Spiritualism, in the
house of a friend, — a sceptic, a man of science, and a law-
yer, with none but members of his own family present.
Sitting at a good-sized round table, with our hands placed
upon it, after a short time slight movements would com-
mence — not often " turnings " or " tiltinga " but a gentle
intermittent movement, like steps, which after a time would
bring the table quite across the room. Slight but distinct
tapping sounds were also heard. The following notes made
at the time were intended to describe exactly what took
place : —

" July 23nd, 1865. — Sat with my friend, his wife, and
two daughters at a large loo table, by daylight. In about
half an hour some faint motions were perceived, and some
faiut taps heard. They gradually increased; the taps be-
came very distinct, and the table moved considerably, obliging
us all to shift our chairs. Then a curious vibratory motion of
the table commenced, almost like the shivering of a living
animal. I could feel it up to my elbows. These phenomena
were variously repeated for two hours. On trying after-
wards, we found the table could not be voluntarily moved
in the same manner without a great exertion of force, and
we could discover no possible way of producing the taps
while our hands were upon the table."

On other occasions we tried the experiment of each person
in succession leaving the table, and found that the phenomena
continued the same as before, both taps and the table move-
ment. Once I requested one after another to leave the
table. The phenomena continued, but, as the number of
sitters diminished, with decreasing vigor, and, just after the
last person had drawn back, leaving me alone at the table,

■ On Miracles and Modem BpIritualiBm, London, ISTS, French trana-
lation, Paris, 1889 (the EngUah word «^HtiialMtn is alwajs used here
in the Miwe of aptritimn).

364 MYSTEKIOnS PSYCHIC FOBCES

there were two doll taps or bkwa, as with a fist on tht
piUar or foot of the table, the vibration of which I ooaM
feel as well as hear.

Some time before these observations I had met a gentk*
man who had told me of most wonderful phen^miena oe-
earring in his own f amily, — among them the palpaUe motLon
of solid bodies when no person was tonching them or netr
them; and he had recommended me to go to a pnUie
medium in London (Mrs. Marshall), where I might aes
things equally wonderful Accordingly, in September^ 1865,
I b^;an a series of visits to Mrs. Marshall, generally ac-
companied by a friend, — a good chemist and mechanic^ and
of a tliroroughly sceptical mind.

1. A small table, on which the hands of four persons
were placed (including my own and Mrs. Marshall's), rose
up vertically about a foot from the floor, and remained
suspended for about twenty seconds, while my friend, who
was sitting looking on, could see the lower part of the taUe
with the feet freely suspended above the floor.

2. W liile sitting at a large table, with Miss T. on my left
and Mr. R. on my right, a guitar which had been played
in Miss T's hand slid down onto the floor, passed over my
feet, and came to Mr. R., against whose Ic^ it raised itself
up till it appeared above the table. I and Mr. R. were
watching it carefully the whole time, and it behaved as if
alive itself, or rather as if a small invisible child were by
groat exertions moving it and raising it up. These two
phenomena were witnessed in bright gaslight.

3. A chair, on which a relation of Mr. R.*s sat, was lifted
up with her on it. Afterwards, when she returned to the
table from the piano, where she had been playing, her chair
moved away just as she was going to sit down. On drawing
it up, it moved away again. After this had happened three
times, it became apparently fixed to the floor, so that she
could not raise it. Mr. R. then took hold of it, and found
that it was only by a great exertion he could lift it oflF the
floor. This sitting took place in broad daylight, on a bright
day, and in a room on the first floor with two windows.

However strange and unreal these few phenomena may
seem to readers who have seen nothing of the kind, I poai-

EXPERIMENTS Ain> OBSERVATIONS 856

tivel^ affirm that they are facts which really happened jnst
as I have narrated them^ and that there was no room for
any possible trick or deception. In each case, before we
began, we turned up the tables and chairs, and saw that they
were ordinary pieces of furniture, and that there was no
connection between them and the flooor, and we placed
them where we pleased before we sat down. Several of
the phenomena occurred entirely imder our own hands, and
quite disconnected from the " medium." They were aa
much realities as the motion of nails towards a magnet, and,
it may be added, not in themselves more improbable or more
incomprehensible.

The mental phenomena which most frequently oocnr are '
the spelling out of the names of relatives of persons present
their ages, or any other particulars about them. They are
especially uncertain in their manifestation, though when
they do succeed they are very conclusive to the persons who
witness them. The general opinion of sceptics as to thest
phenomena is, that they depend simply on the acnteness and
talent of the medium in hitting on the letters which form
the name, by the manner in which persona dwell upon or
hurry over them, — the ordinary mode of receiving these
communicationa being for the person interested to go over
a printed alphabet, letter by letter, loud taps indicating the
letters which form the required names. I am going to
choose some of our experiments which show how impossible
it is to accept this explanation.

When I first received a communication myself I was
particularly careful to avoid giving any indication, by going
with steady regularity over the letters; yet there was spelt
out correctly, first, the place where my brother died. Para;
then bis Christian name, Herbert; and lastly, at my re-
quest, the name of the mutual friend who last saw him,
Henry Walter Bates. On this occasion our party of six
visited Mrs. Marshall for the first time, and my name as
well as those of the rest of the party, except one, were un-
known to her. That one was my married sister, whose
name was no clue to mine.

On the same occasion a young lady, a connection of Mr.
R.'s was told that a communication was to be made to her.

356 MTSTEKIOnS PSYCHIC FORGES '

She took the alphabet, and instead of pointing to the bUm
one by one, she moved the pencil smoothly over the liaoi
with the greatest steadiness, I watched her, and wioto
down the letters which the taps indicated. The name pnh
duced was an extraordinary one, the letters being Thamn
Doe Thacker. I thought there must be an error in the Istter
part; but the names were Thomas Doe Thackar, tbe ladj't
f ather, every letter being correct A number of other namsL
places, and dates were spelt out on this occasion with eqiud
accuracy ; but I give only these two, because in theee I am
sure no due was given by which the names ooold have beea
guessed by the most pretematurally acute inteUeet

On another occasion, I accompanied my sister and a ladj
who had never been there before to Mrs, Marshall's, and we
had a very curious illustration of the absurdity of imputing
the spelling of names to the receiver's hesitation and ike
medium's acuteness. She wished the name of a partienkr
deceased relative to be spelled out to her, and pointed to the
letters of the alphabet in the usual way, while I wrote
down those indicated. The first three letters were y r n.
" Oh I " said she, " that's nonsense ; we had better begin
again." Just then an e came, and, thinking I saw what it
was, I said, " Please go on, I understand it." The whole
was then spelt out thus: ymehkeocffej. The lady even
then did not see it, till I separated it thus : ymeh kcocffej,
or Henry Jeffcock, — the name of the relative she had
wanted, accurately spelt backwards.

Another phenomenon, necessitating the exertion both of
force and intellect, is the following : The table having been
previously examined, a sheet of note paper was marked
privately by me, and placed with a lead-pencil under the
centre foot of the table, all present having their hands
upon the table. After a few minutes, taps are heard, and,
on taking up the paper, I find written on it, in a free hand,
" William." On another occasion, a friend from the coun-
try — a total stranger to the medium, and whose name was
never mentioned — accompanied me; and, after receiving
what purported to be a communication from his son, a paper
was put under the table, and in a few minutes there was
found written on it ^^ Charley T. Dodd." the correct name.

EXPERIMENTS -AND OBSERVATIONS 357
In tliese cases it is certain there waa no machinery under
the table ; and it simply remains to ask if it were possible for
Mrs. Marshal] to slip off her boots, seize the pencil and
paper with her toes, and write on it a name she bad to
guess at, and again put on her boots without removing her
hands from the table, or giving aoy indication whatever of
her exertions.

It was in November, 1866, that my sister discovered that
a lady living with her had the power of inducing loud and
distinct taps and other curious phenomena ; and I now began
a series of observations in my own house, the most important
of which I shall briefly narrate.

When we sat at a large loo table without a doth, with
all our hands upon it, the taps would generally commence in
a few minutes. They sound as if made on the imder side
of the leaf of the table, in various parts of it. They change
in tone and loudness, from a soimd like that produced by
tapping with a needle or a long finger-nail, to others like
blows with a fist or slaps with the fingers of a hand. Soimds
are produced also like scraping with a finger-nail, or like
the rubbing of a damp finger pressed very hard on the table.
The rapidity with which these sounds are produced and are
changed is very remarkable. They will imitate, more or
less exactly, sounds which we make with our fingers above
the table ; they will keep good time to a tune whistled by one
of the party; they will sometimes, at request, play a very
fair tune themselves, or will follow accurately a hand tap-
ping a tune upon the table.

Of course, the first impression is that some one's foot is
lifting up the table. To answer this objection, I prepared
the table before our second trial without telling any one,
by stretching some thin tissue paper between the feet an
inch or two from the bottom of the pillar, in such a manner
that any attempt to insert the foot must crush or tear the
paper. The table rose up as before, resisted pressure down-
wards, as if it was resting on the back of some animal, sunk
to the floor, and in a short time rose again, and then dropped
suddenly down. I now with some anxiety turned up the
table, and, to the surprise of all present, showed them the
delicate tissue stretched across altogether uninjured! Find-

358 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

ing that this test was tronblesom^ aa the paper or tbeidi
had to be renewed eveiy tune^ and were liable to be broba
accidentally before the experiment began, I oofnatmetod a
cylinder of hoops and laths, covered wiUi canyaa. The tibk
was pkced within this as in a well, and, aa it waa aboot
eighteen inches high, it kept the feet and dresses of the ladiei
away from the table. The latter rose without the least difr
ciilty, the hands of all the group being held above it.

A small centre-table suddenly moved up of its own aooord
to the table by the side of the medium, as if it had graduil^
got within the sphere of a strong attractive force. Afte^
wards, at our request, it was thrown down on the floor witlt-
out any person touching it, and it then moved about in a
strange life-like manner, as if seeking some means of getting
up again, turning its claws first on one side and then en
the other. On another occasion, a very large leather arm-
chair which stood at least four or five feet from the medium,
Biuldenly wheeled up to her, after a few slight preliminary
movonionts. It is, of course, easy to say that what I relate
id impossible. I maintain that it is accurately true; and
that no man, whatever be his attainments, has such an ex-
haustive knowledge of the powers of nature as to justify him
in using the word " impossible " with regard to facts which
I and many others have repeatedly witnessed.

We evidently have here facts similar to those which I ob-
ser\Td in my experiments with Eusapia and with other me-
diums.

Alfred Russel Wallace continues his account by the cita-
tion of cases analogous to those which have been described
in this work; then sums up the experiments of Crookes, of
Varley, Morgan, and other English scientists; does me the
honor of citing my letter to the Dialectical Society which I
have printed above; passes in review the history of Spirit-
ualism, and declares that (1) the facts are incontestahle, and
that (2), in his opinion, the best explanatory hypothesis is
that of spirits, or the souh of the disembodied — the theory
of " the unconscious " being evidently inadequate.

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 369

Such is also the opinion of the electrician Cromwell Var-
ley. Neither he nor Wallace believes that there is anything
supernatural in the phenomena. Discamate spirits are in
nature, as well as the incarnate. ^^ The triviality of the
communications ought not to astonish us, if we consider the
myriads of trivial and fantastic human beings who every
day become ghosts and are the same beings the day after
their death that they were the day before."

Professor Morgan, the brilliant author of the Budget of
Paradoxes (an excellent piece of work, and highly compli-
mented by the London Athenceum, in 1865), expresses the
same opinion in his work on Mind (1863). Not only does
he think that the facts are incontestable, but he also believes
that the hypothesis that explains the facts by intelligences
exterior to ourselves is the only satisfying one. He relates,
among other things, that, in one of the stances attended by
him, a friend of his (a very sceptical person), was making
a little fun of the spirits, whereupon, while they were all
standing (a dozen experimenters of them) around the dining
room table, and forming the chain above it, without contact,
the heavy table began to move of its own accord, and, drag-
ging along the whole group, made a rush at the sceptic, and
pinned him against the back of the sofa, imtil he cried
" Hold ! enough 1 ''

Still, does that constitute proof of an independent spirit?
Was it not an expression of the collective thought of the
company ? And, likewise, in the experience which Wallace
has just cited, were not the dictated names latent in the brain
of the questioner? And was not the little centre-table, in
its climbings acting imder the physical and pyschical in-
fluences of the medium ?

Whatever may be the explanatory hypothesis, the facts
are undeniable.

We have here, before all, a group of substantial English

880 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

scientifits of the first rank, in whose opinion the denial of the
phenomena is a sort of madness*

French scientists are a little more belated than their nei^
bors. Nevertheless, I have already called attention to some
of them during the course of this work. I should have taken
pleasure in adding the names of the lamented Pierre Curie
and of Professor d' Arsonval, if they had published the ex-
periments they made with Eusapia during July, 1905, and
March and April, 1906, at the General Institute of Piy-
chology.

Among the most judicious of experimentors in psychical
phenomena I ought also to mention M. J. Maxwell, a doctor
of medicine and (a very different function) advocate-general
at the Court of Appeals in Bordeaux

The reader may have already noticed (p. 178) the part
which this investigator, at once a magistrate and a scientist,
took in the experiments made at 1' Agnelas in 1895. Eusapia
is not the only medium with whom he studied, and his ac-
quaintance with our subject is supported by the best of docu-
mentary evidence.

It is fitting that I present to the reader at this point the
most characteristic facts and the essential conclusions set
forth in his work.*

The author has made a special examinations of raps.

Raps {coups frappes). — The contact of hands is not
necessary to obtain raps. With certain mediums I have
very readily obtained them without contact.

When one has succeeded in obtaining raps with contact,
one of the surest means of continuing to thus obtain theni)
is to keep the hands resting on the table for a certain time,
then to lift them very slowly, keeping the palms turned
downward toward the table, the fingers loosely opened, but
not held stiffly. It rarely happens under sudi circum-

* Les PMnomhiea payehiquea. One vol. Svo. Paris, 1903.

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 361

stances, that the rapa do not continue to make tbemselTes
beard, at leaat for aome time. I need not add that the ex-
perimenters should not onlj avoid touching the table with
their hands, but even with any other part of their bodies,
or their clothes. The contact of gannents with the table
may be sufficient to produce raps Tvhich have in them nothing
eupemormal. It is necessary therefore to exercise' great
care that the dresses of ladies do not come in contact
with the legs of the table. When the necessary precautiona
are used, the raps sound in a very convincing way.

In the case of certain mediums, the energy set free is
powerful enough to act at a distance. I once happened to
hear raps upon a table which was almost six feet from the
medium. We had had a very short sitting and had left
the table. I was reclining in an easy-chair; the medium,
standing, was conversing with me, when a series of raps
was made upon the table which we had just left. It was
broad daylight in midsummer, about five o'clock in the
evening. The raps were forcible and lasted for several
minutes.

I have often observed facts of this kind. I happened
once, while travelling, to meet an interesting medium.
He did not allow me to use hia name, but I may say that
he ia an honorable man, well infonned, occupying an official
position. I obtained with him lively rapa in restaurants
and in railway lunch counters. He did not suspect that he
possessed this latent faculty before he had experimented
with me. To have olsorved the raps produced under these
conditions would have beea sufficient to convince anyone of
their authenticity. The unusual noise made by these raps
attracted the attention of persons present and gave us much
annoyance. The result surpassed our expectations. It ia to
be noted that the more we were confused with the noise made
by our rapa, the more frequent they became. One would
have said that aome wa^^sh creature waa producing them
and amusing himself with our embarrassment.
I also obtained fine raps upon the floors of museums be-
fore the pictures of the old masters. The most oominon are
those made, with contact, upon the table or upon the floor ;

362 MTSTEBIOnS PSYCHIC FOBCES

next, those made at a distance upon various artides of fonu-
ture.

More rarely, I have heard them on the garments of ths
sitters or of the medium, or upon the ooveringB of pieces of
furniture. I have heard them on sheets of paper laid on the
experiment-table, in books, in walls, in tambourines^ in small
wooden objects, especially in a planchette used for automatio
writing. I noticed very curious raps in the case of a
writing-medium* When she had automatic writing, the raps
were produced with extreme rapidity at the end of her
pencil ; but, the pencil itself did not tap the taUe. Several
times and very carefully I put my hand on the end of the
pencil opposite the point, without the latter leaving for a
single moment the paper on the table: the raps sounded in
the wood, not on die paper. In this case, of course^ the
medium held the penciL

The raps occur even when I j>lace my finger on the upper
end of the pencil and when I press its point against the
paper. You feel the pencil vibrating, but it is not displaced.
Inasmuch as these raps are very resonant, I calculated that it
would be necessary to give a pretty strong blow in order
to produce them artificially. The necessary movement re-
quires a lifting of the point from two to five millimeters, ac-
cording to the intensity of the raps. Now the point does
not seem to be displaced. Furthermore, when the writing
is going on, these raps take place with great rapidity, and
the examination of the writing does not show any place
where a stop occurred. The text is continuous, no trace of
tapping is perceptible in it, no thickening of the strokes can
be perceived. Observations made under such conditions
seem to me to exclude the possibility of fraud.

I have observed that these raps occur, without apparent
cause, as far as nine feet from the medium. They manifest
themselves as the expression of an activity and of a will
distinct from those of the observers. Such is the appearance
of the phenomenon. A curious fact results from all this,
that not only do the raps occur as the product of an in-
telligent action, but they also usually agree to perform as
often as asked, and to produce definite rhythms, for example,

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 363

certain airs. In like maimer tliey imitate the raps made by
the experimenters, upon demand of the latter.

The different raps frequently respond to each other, and
it is one of the prettiest experiments in which one can take
part to hear these blows, now slight and muffied, now sharp
and abrupt, or again soft and gentle, sounding simul-
taneouslj upon the table, the floor, and the frame-work and,
coverings of the furniture.

I had the good fortune to be able to study these curious
rappings at close range, and I believe I have reached certain
conclusions. The firs^ and the best attested, is that the
raps are closely connected with the muscular movements of
the sitters. I will sum up my observations on this point as
follows :

1. Every muscular movement, even a feeble one, is gen-
erally followed by a rap.

2. The intensity of the raps did not seem to me to be pro-
portional to the muscular movement made.

3. The intensity of the raps did not seem to me to vary
in proportion to their distance from the medium.

The following are the facts upon which my conclusions
rest:

I frequently observed that when we had raps that were
feeble and occurred only at intervals, an excellent means of
producing them was to form the chain upon the table, the
hands resting upon it, and the observers putting their fingers
in light contact One of them, without breaking the chain
(a feat he accomplished by holding in the same hand the
right hand of bis neighbor on the left and the left hand of
his neighbor on the right) moved his released hand in circu-
lar sweeps or passes over the table, at the level of the circle
formed by the opened hands of the observers. After hav-
ing made this movement four or five times, always in the
same direction, — that is to say, after having thus traced
four or five circles over the table, the experimenter brought
his hand over toward the centre at a variable height and
moved it down towards the table. Then he abruptly ar-
rested this movement at a distance of seven or eight inches
from the top. The abrupt stoppage of his hand was tallied
by a rap in the wood. It is an exceptional case when this

364 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOECES

process does not yield taps, — that is to say, when there is t
medium in the circle capable, even feebly, of prodnciiig
them.

The same experiment can be made without touching the
table, but forming around it a kind of closed chain. One
of the operators then acts as in the preceding case.

I have no need to recall to the minds of my readers that
with certain mediums, raps are produced without any move-
ment being made. Almost all mediums can obtain them
in this way by keeping perfectly quiet and having patience.
But one would say that the execution of the movement acts
as a determining cause. It seems as if the accumulated
energy received a kind of stimulus.

Levitations. — One day we improvised an experiment in
the afternoon, and I remember that I observed a very in-
teresting levitation made imder these circumstances. It was
about five o'clock in the evening (at any rate it was broad
daylight), in the salon at I'Agnelas. We took our places
about the table, standinr). Eusa])ia took the hand of one of
us and placed it on the comer of the table, at her right. The
table thereu}x>n rose up to the height of our foreheads ; that
is to say, the top of the table rose at least as high as five
feet above the floor.

Such experiments wore very convincing, for it was im-
possible for Eusapia, the circumstances being such as thej
were, to lift the table by a nonnal act. It is enough to sup-
pose that she merely touched the corner of the table, to find
out how heavy a weight she would have had to lift if she
had made a muscular movement. Besides, she had not a
sufficient grip on the table to lift it. Evidently, the condi-
tions of the experiment being such, she could not make use
of one of the fraudulent processes mentioned by her critics,
such as straps or hooks of any kind. The phenomenon is
undeniably authentic.

The breathing seems to have a very great influence. In
the way things take place, it seems as if the sitters released,
bv breathing, an amount of motor energy comparable to that
which they r(»loas(» wlion rapidly movinfr their liinbs. There
is something in this very curious and difficult to explain.

The more complete analysis of the facts allows us to think

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 365

that the liberation of the eoerg; employed depends upon the
contraction of the muBcIes and not upon the movement made.
The thing which reveah this peculiarity is easy to observe.
When we are forming the chain about the table, we can set
up a movement without contact by mutually pressing our
hands tt^ther with a certain force, or by pressing the feet
hard upon the floor. The first of these means is much the
better of the two. The arms have only made an insignificant
movement, and one can say that the muscular contraction in
almost the only physiological phenomenon observable. Yet
it BufBces.

All these authenticated experiments tend to show that the
agent which determines movements without contact has some
connection with our organism, and probably with our nervous
system.

Conditions of the Experiments. — We must never lose out
of our sight the relative importance of the moral and intel-
lectual status of the group of experimenters. That is one
of the most difficult things to seize and comprehend. But
when the force is abundant, the simple manifestation of the
will is sometimes able to determine the movement. For ex-
ample, upon a desire to that affect being expressed by the
sitters, the table moves in the way it is requested to do.
The phenomena occur as if this force were guided by an
Intelligence distinct from that of the experimenters. I
hasten to say that I regard that only as a probability, and
that I think I have observed a certain resemblance between
these personifications and the secondary personalities of
Bomnambul ists.

In this apparent bond between the indirect will of the sit-
ters and the plicnomena there is a problem the solution of
which has so far completely escaped me. I suspect that this
bond has nothing supernatural about it and I realize that
the Spiritualistic hypothesis is a poorer explanation and in-
adequate to meet the facts ; but I cannot formulate any satis-
factory explanation.

Close observations of the relations existing between the
phenomena and the will of the sitters brings out other dia-
coveries also. I mean, in the first place, the bad affect which
disagreement among the experimenters produces. It some-

868 ICTSTKBIOUS P6T0HI0 FOBOBB

thtnmatniipsL The teU^ons prejudice wlddi pmiailNi
these experinwDta u ispemtturtl it u littla jwtifiBd m tho
icaentific prejodice iriiieh only ■»■ in dum fwmod maA im>

posture. Hoe agun the iM, uiMga at Aristotle findH ite »p-
plieatioB : Eqni^ liee between t^B tm extremes of opinion.

It ii evident that theee azperimoiti of Dr. Maxwell are
in icoord with all the preceding raea. The reaults «Ke^
tained mntnally confinn eadi other.

Apropos of medinms who prodooe physical or material
effecti, I Bbonld also lihe to mention hort: tfao one who vti
Tery specially examined at Paris, in 1902, by a gronp of men
oompoeed in large part of former papiU of the Polytechoic
School. They held a donn stenoea in July and August.
This group was oompoeed of MM. A. de liocLiu), Taton.
Lemerle, Bacl£, de Fontenay, and Bariex. Tlie medium
was Augusts PoUti, of Rome. He was forlj^even yean
old.

Several very remarkable table-levitations were ohserved
and photographed by these gentlemen during their sittings.
I reproduce here (PL XIII) one of tlieee photographs, taken
by M, de Fontenay which he kindly allows me to use. It
is undoubtedly one of the meet beautiful that has been ob-
tained, and one of the most striking. All the hands that
form the chain are carefully held 'away from the taUe. It
Beema to me that not to recognize the value of this photograph
as a record would be to deny the evidence itself. It was
taken instantaneously by a flash of magnesium lif^L The
eyes of the medium bad been bandaged, that the li^t mi^t
not give liim a nervous ebock.

This same medium was studied at liomc^ in Februaiy,
1904, by a group comjwsed of Profeasor Mil^, of the Uni-
versity of Rome, M. Joseph Squanquarillo, Mr. and Mrs.
Franklin Rimmons (American travellers passing through
Rome), and M. and Mme. Cartoni.

PUTB XIII. I
FOVTKNA

NSTAMTAMKOrS I'HO

r ot Tiiii.K I.KViT
THE Medh M Avail

TO.iR*pn T*KK!. BV M. DE
ATION PROnCCKl. BV
HIK I'OLIII.

[

1 < >

J ' :

■/

■■(

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 369

They declare that they heard scales very well executed
upon the piano (which was an upright one), at quite a dis-
tance from the sitters ; yet none of the sitters knew how to
play on the piano, while Professor Mil€si's deceased sister,
vho was called upon to manifest herself, was a very good
pianist.

Another musical phenomenon was produced : A mandolin
placed on the lid of the piano, began of its own accord to
play, halancing itself in the air until it went and fell down
(playing all the while) between the bands of the experimen-
ters who formed the chain.

Later, at intervals, the piano was lifted in its turn, falling
beck noisily. It must be remarked that two men scarcely
sofitced to lift this piano, even by one of its sides. After
the sitting, it was ascertained that the instrument bad been
displaced about a foot and a half.

But here follows a resume of the phenomena observed with
this medium.

In every seance, very vigorous raps were obtained in the
table around which were grouped the experimenters and the
medium (they together forming the chain), while the lamp
with red light was on the table itself. " If we wished to
produce raps so sharp and strong (says M. C. Caccia, the
reporter of these stances), we had to rap with all our might
on the table with some solid object, while the kind of raps
which were produced in the seances with Politi seemed to
issue from the interior of the table with loud sounds like
explosions."

But now the table begins to be shaken. The white curtain
of the cabinet which was behind the medium, at a distance of
twenty inches, swelled out and floated in every direction, as
if a violent wind had inflated it from the other side. We
beard a chair moving with a gliding motion over the floor.
It had been placed there before the beginning of the sitting
•nd was now thrown violently over. During the course of
the fifth sitting it came clear out of the cabinet, in ths

870 MYSTEBIOUS PSYCHIO FOBCOBS

presence of everybody, and did not stop until it got netr Ik
medium.

These phenomena took place by the red light of a photo-
graphic lamp. In the complete darknesa whidi attended the
thii^i sfianoe an extraordinary thing occurred, — so much the
more extraordinary because we had taken apodal meaanres to
forestall any attempt at fraud. The medium vaa held by
two sitters who, being very sceptical, had taken their plaees
on his right and on his left, and were holding hia hands
and his feet

At a certain moment the medium ordered the operators to
lift their hands from the table and not to hinder ita move-
ments; above all, not to break the chain. Where up on a
great uproar was heard in the cabinet The medium etlb
for light, and, to the great anuusement of all of ua, we dis-
cover that the table, which was rectangular in form and did
not weigh less than thirty-nine pounds, was found turned up-
side down upon the floor of the cabinet. The controllers
declared that tho medium had not stirred. It is to be re-
marked :

1. That the table must have been lifted high enough to
pass over the heads of the sitters.

2. That it must have passed above the group forming the
chain.

3. That as the opening in the curtains of the cabinet only
measured thirty-seven inches across, and the table, on its
shortest side, thirty inches, there only remained free seven
inches for passing through this opening.

4. That the table must have come forward endwise, then
moved around lengthwise (it was three feet long), and
turned upside down, resting on the floor; that the whole of
this difBcult manoeuvre was executed in a few seconds in
complete darkness and without any of the sitters having
touched the table in the slightest degree.*

*The Italian journals reproduced a picturesque photograph of tHe
table lifted almost to the height of the ceiling, at the moment it had
paRsed over the heads of the sitters and was turning over (see A. de
Hochas, ExIMoriaation de la motriciti, 4th ed.). I do not reproduce it,
because it does not seem to me to be authentic. Besides, the obserren
declared that they did not verify this phenomenon until after its pro-

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 371

Lmninoua phenomena were also obtained. Lighta ap*
peared and disappeared in the air. Some of them gave the
outline of a curv& Tbej did not show any radiation. In
the fifth aeance, everybody was able to testify to the ap-
pearance of two luminous croasea, about four inches in
height.

At the last aeance, the tambourine fringed with bells,
which had been rubbed with phosphorous, went circling
around the whole room, and in such a way that all its move-
ments could be followed.

During almost all the sittings, mysterious toucbings were
noticed, — among others, those produced by an ^lormouB
hairy hand!

In the first, fourth and fifth stances there were " ma-
terializations. Prof. Italo Palmarini believed that he rec-
c^ized his daughter, who had been dead three years. He
felt himself embraced ; everybody beard the sound of a kiss.
The same manifestation took place in the fifth seance. Pro-
fessor Palmarini believed that he still recognized the per-
son of his daughter.

At the opening of each seance the medium was searched^
and was then placed in a kind of big sack, made to order for
this purpose, and fastened at the neck, the wrists, and the
feet.

Another medium, the Russian Sambor, was the object of
numerous experiments at St. Petersburg during a period of
six years. (1897-1902.) It will be interesting also to
give a summing up in this place of the report about this
man published by M. Petrovo Solovovo.*

In the first seances a large folding screen placed behind
the medium was observed to be vigorously shaken. The
medium's feet and hands were carefully held. A table in a
neighboring chamber moved of its own accord. In a metal
oone placed on the table, enclosing a bit of paper and a
lead-pencil, and then riveted up, there was found, when it
was unriveted, a ribbon, and a phrase written on the paper
* AnnalM des Sdeneet ptychique, 1B02.

STS KYSTERIOnS PSYCHIC FORCES

In leript that had to be n^ in a looking-glass (eerUurt m
aurotr). Other cawa of tbo pauage of nutter thnw^
matter wtat tritKi, dodo of which succeeded. But furtbir
on the rapoirts relate the foUowiog experiments :

In the month of FHbniury, IdOl, one of Sambor's sganeet
took plaoe at my houiie, in my study, against the windows vl
uriiieh I had Lung curtains of black calico in such a way that
the room mks plungod in the deepest darkness. The mediau
. oeeiwied a place in the chain. Kext to the medium vtn
If. J. Lomatzach, on his right, myself on bis left Sambo's
handl and feet were faithfully held tho whole time in a
war that gave perfect satisfaction.

The plKDouiGDa bood began to develop. I do not inteod
to take the litiie hvni to describe tbem, but 1 wish to men-
tion a remar^bJe case of the paiagp of mBttor iiiiiii^
matter.

M. Lomatnch, eantroUer on the right, dedarea that acme-
one is pulling his diair from under him. So, redonbling
our attention, we continue to hold tbe medium. M. Lo-
matzsch's chair is soon positively lifted up, bo that he is
obliged to stand. Sometime after, he declares that some-
one is trying to hang the chair on the hand with which be
is holding Sambor, Then the chair suddenly disappears
from the arm of H. Lomatzsch, and at the same moment I
feci a light pressure upon my left arm (I do not mean the
one which was in contact with the medium, but with my
ni'iglibor on the left (M, A. Weber) ; after which I feel that
something heavy is hanging from my arm. When the candle
was lighted, we all saw that my Ufi arm had been patted
through ilie back of the chair. In this way the chair wit
nicely balanced upon that one of my arms which was not in
contact with Sambor, but with my neighbor on the left I
had not let go of the hands of my neighbors.

Such an observation as this needs no commentary (u^
the reporter of this occurrence, M. Petrovo Solovovo). Tbe
fact is simply incomprehensible. I give here some other
phenomena which were observed in May, 1902 :

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 873

1. A cedar apple, an old copper coin which was found to
be a Persian coin of 1723, and an amateur photographic
portrait of a jouog woman in mourning unknown to any-
body present were found (coming from nobody knew where,
nor in what way), upon the table about which w« were
seated.

2. Several different objects in the room were transported
to the table by the mysterious force ; such, for example, as a
thermometer, which had been hung on the wall behind the .
piano at a distance of from one-half to seven feet from the
medium; a lai^e lantern placed upon the piano somewhere
between two and four feet behind the medium ; several piles
of music-books which had rested on the same piano ; a
framed portrait; and, finally, the candlesconce, the candle,
and the different parts of a candlestick belonging to the
piano.

3. Several times a bronze bell placed on the table was
lifted into the air by the mysterious force and noisily rung.
On the request of the sitters it was once carried over to the
piano (against which it struck a sounding blow), and from
there again over to the table.

4. Unoccupied chairs had been placed behind the medium.
One of them was several times lifted and placed noisily on
the table in the midst of the sitters, and without having run
against any of them. When upon the table, this chair several
times moved about, fell over, and picked itself up.

5. One of these same chairs was found to be hung by the
back upon the joined hands of the medium and JI. de Pog-
genpohl. Before the beginning of that part of the stance
which witnessed this phenomenon, a strip of cloth, slipped
over the sleeves of the medium, bad been several times
tightly twisted around the wrists of M. de PoggenpohL

6. At the request of the sitters, the mysterious force
several times stopped the playing of the music-box (it stood
on the table around which we were seated), after which it
b^an to play again.

7. A sheet of paper and a lead pencil, placed on the table,
were thrown on the floor, and everybody distinctly heard
the pencil moving over the paper with a heavy pressure and,
with a sharp tap, putting a period at the end of what had

874 MYSTERIOUS PSTCHIO FOBGES

been written. After this the pencil was laid on the taUe.

8. Five of the ezperimenten declared that thej had been
touched hy some mysteriouB hand.

0. Twice the mysterious force drew sounds from Hm
piano. The first time^ this took place when the lid of the
piano was open. The second time, the sounds were heard
after the lid had been heked with a key, the key remaining
on the table in the midst of the circle of experixnentsis.
At first the unknown force began to play a melody on the
high notes, and two or three times produced trills. Then
chords on the bass notes were heard at the same time with
the melody, and, when the piano was playing^ the musie-
boz also began to play, both performances lasting sefersl
minutes.

10. During all the phenomena which have just been de-
scribed, the medium (Sambor), seemed sunk in a profound
trance, and remained almost motionless. The phenomena
were not accompanied by any bustle or confusion. His hands
and bis feet were* all the time controlled by bis neighbors.
M. de Poggenpohl and Loris-Melikow several times saw some-
thing long, black, and slender detaching itself from him
during the phenomena and moving toward the objects.

I will add, in closing (says M. Petrovo Solovovo), that
this medium was accused of cupidity and intemperance.
These s&inces were the last he gave (be died a few months
afterward). But, to tell the truth, I have a tender spot in
my heart for the late M. Sambor. This Little-Russian, a
former telegraph operator, polished and humanized by the
six or seven winters that he had passed in St Petersbiurg— -
can it be that blind Nature had chosen this man to be the
intermediary between our world and the doubtful Beyond!
— or, at least, another world of beings whose precise nature
(begging the pardon of the spirits) would be an enigma to
me, provided I positively believed in them.

It is with that word '^ doubt " (alas ! is not doubt the most
certain result of medixunistic experiments ?) that I end this
Beport.

To this whole series of varied observations and experi-
ments we could still add many more. In 1905 MM. Charles

EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS 875

Richet and Gabriel Delanne beld some famouB eSances in
Algiers. But ia not impossible that fraud may have crept
into their experimeuts, in spite of all the precautions taken
hy them. (The photographs of the phantom Bien-Boa have
an artificial look.) In 1906, the American medium, Miller,
gave in Paris several seances in which it really seems as if
true apparitions were manifested. I cannot say anything
personally about it, not having been present. Among other
experimenters, there were two very competent ones, who
studied this medium; namely, MM. Q. Delanne and G.
M^ry. The firat concludes that the apparitions were what
they represented themselves to be (see Revue scienlifique et
morale du spirititme) ; that is to say, the spirits of the de-
parted. The second, on the other hand, declares in L'Echo
du Merveilleux, that, " until there is fuller information,
we must be satisfied with not comprehending."

It is not within the scope of my plan to discuss in this par-
ticular place, " apparitions " or " materializations." We
may ask ourselves whether the fiuid which certainly emanates
from the medium may not produce a kind of condensation
able to furnish to the most interested observer of the mani-
festation the elusive vision of an unreal personality which,
besides, only lasts, as a general thing, for a few seconds. Is
it a melange or combination of fluids? But it is not yet
time to make hypotheses.

CHAPTER XI

Ut OKNSRAI. IKQUIBT UBPXCTIirG OB8SBVATIOHB OF UHXZ-

PLAINED PHXHOMXVA

A certain number of mj readers perhape remember the
general inquiry that I instituted in the course of the year
1890 respecting observation of the unexplained phenomena
of telepathy, manifestations of the dyin^^ premonitoiy
dreams, etc — an inquiry published in part in my ivork
L'Inconnu et lea prohlSmes pfyehiques. I received 4280 re-
plies composed of 2456 no and 1824 yes. Among the latter
there are 1758 letters with more or less of detaiL A large
number of these were not presented in such a shape that
their claims could be discussed. But I was able to use 786
of the most important of them. They were classified, the
essential matters transcribed, and summed up in the work of
which I have just spoken. The most striking thing in all
these accounts is the loyalty, conscientiousness, the frank-
ness, and the sensitive refinement of the narrators, who are
anxiously concerned to say only what they know, and as
they know it, without adding or subtracting anything. In
doing this, each becomes the servant of truth.

These 786 letters, transcribed, classified, and numbered,
contained 1130 different facts or observations. My examina-
tion of the instances recorded in the letters reveals several
kinds of subjects which may be classified as follows:

Manifestations and Apparitions of the Dying.
Manifestations of the Living (in Health).
Manifestations and Apparitions of the Dead.
Clairvoyance.

Premonitory Dreams. Forecast of the Future.

376

MT GENERAL DfQUIEY 877

BreamB that give Infonnation of the Dead.

Meetings foreseen by FreBentimest.

Preeentimenta lealiied.

Doubles of the Living.

Conunimicfttions of Thoogbt at a Diatance (Telepathy).

Instinctive Preflentimenta of Animala.

CalU beard at Great Distances.

^Movements of Objects without Apparent Cause.

Bolted Doors Opening of Themselves.

Haunted Houses.

Spiritualistic Experiments.

Since my first publication of these documents, I have re-
ceived many new ones. More than one thousand are to-day
crowded into my manuscript litH-ary. They contain about
fifteen hundred observations which seem to me to be sincere
and authentic. The doubtful ones have been eliminated.
Thene narratives emanate as a general thing from persons
who are filled with astonishment and are extremely desirous
of receiving, if possible, an explanation of these strange
events (often very affecting). All the narratives which I
have been able to verify have been found to be fundamentally
accurate — sometimes modified afterwards, as respects their
mere form, by a memory more or less confused.

In L'Ineonnu, I published a portion of these narra-
tives. But I excluded from that work * phenomena not prop
erly included within the limits of its main plan, which was
to show the existence of unknown faculties of the soul.

I excluded, I say, " movements of objects without apparent
oause," " bolted doors opening of themselves," " haimt«d
houses," " Spiritualistic experiments ;" that is to say, the
very cases studied in the present work, in which I hoped to

* Several obMrrBtitina published in that work are however, connected
in subject with the present one. For inetaiice: a piano playing ilona
(p. 108), a door opening of itself (p. 112), curtains shaken (p. I2G),
extravagant gambols of pieces of furniture (p. 133), raps (p. 146),
bells ri^ng (p. 168), and numerous eiamplei of unexpUined ^Us-
turbing noira coinriding with dMthi.

878 MYSTEBIOTTB PSTCHIC FOBCES

be able to publiflh tbem. But space &ib me. Ibl my de-
aire to offer to my xeaden a let of xeoorda as oomplete ts
poesibley for the puipoae of giving tbem a firmly baaed opin-
ion, I have been swamped 1^ the abondanoe of material, sad,
can only rescue a few of the most interesting specimeiis of
them for presentation here.

First of all^ I select the following communication as hav-
ing a certain intrinsic value. It was sent me by my re-
gretted friend Victorin Jonoidres, the well-known oompoeer
of music

I was on a tour of inneetion of the musio^chools of the
Provinces (he says), and happened to be in a etty which
I cannot name to you for the reasons whidi I gsve. I was
oominff out of the branch establishment of our Uouservatoiy,
after having examined the piano-class there, when I was
addressed by a lady who asked me what I thought of her
daughter, and whether I judged that she ought to enter upon
an artistic career.

After a rather long conversation, in the course of which
I promised to go to hear the young artist, I found myself
engaged to go the same evening (for I was leaving the next
day) to the house of one of their friends, a high official in
the state service, to take part in a Spiritualistic stance.

The master of the house received me with extreme cor-
dialty, recalling the promise I had given him to keep secret
his name and that of the city in which he lived. He pre-
sented his niece, the medium, to whom he attributes the
phenomena which take place in his house. It was, in fact,
after the young girl's mother had died, and she came to live
with him, that Uie strange occurrences began to take place.

They began with unusual noises in the walls, and in the
floors, with the displacement of articles of furniture that
moved without being touched, and with the warblings of
birds. M. X. at first believed that it was a piece of foolery
planned either by one of his own family or by one of his
clerks. However, in spite of the most vigilant watching,
he could not discover any trickery, and he finally came to iSb

MY GENERAL INQUIRY 379

conclusion th&t the phenomena were produced hy invisible
agents, with whom he believed he could communicate. He
floon obtained raps, direct writing, the m^steTiouB appearance
of flowers, etc

After this account, he led me into a large room with bare
walls, in which several persons had assembled, among whom
were hie wife and a professor of natural philosophy at the
lyceum — altc^ther, a dozen of experimenters. In the mid-
dle of the room there was a big oak table, npon which were
placed paper, a pencil, a small harmonica, a bell, and a
lighted lamp.

" The spirit announced to me a little while ago that he
would come at ten o'clock," said the gentleman to me. " We
have a good hour before us. I am going to utilize it by
reading to you the minutes of our meetings for a year past"
He laid on the table his watch, which showed Ave minutes to
nine, and covered it with a handkerchief.

For a whole hour he applied himself to reading what
seemed to be veiy improbable stories ; but I was longing to
see some of the wonders.

Suddenly a loud cracking sound was heard in the table.
M. X. lifted the handkerchief which covered the watch. It
was just ten o'doi^

" Art thou there, spirit ? " said he.

Nobody was touching the table; and on bis recommenda-
tion, we formed the chain about it^ holding each other by
the hand.

A vigorous rap was heard.

The young niece placed her two fingers against the edge
of the table and asked us to imitate her. Thereupon this
extremely heavy table rose up well above our heads, in such
a way that we were obliged to stand on tip-toe in order to
follow it in its ascent It hung poised for some moments
in the air and then slowly descended to the floor and came
to a stop without noise.

Then M. X. went to look up a lai^ design for a church
window. He put it on the table and placed beside it a glass
of water, a box of colors, and a camel's bair l^ush. Then
he put the lamp out. He lighted it again at the end of two
or three minutes: the sketch (still damp) was painted in

880 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

two colon, yellow and Une, and not a sin^ bnuh nmk
had paaaed beyond the traoed linee of the aketeh.

E^en if we admit that some one of the aittera mig^ hate
been able to play the r61e of apirit, how, in the dafkneas o£
the room, could he have so handled the broah aa to preeiidy
follow the lines of the design! I will add that the door
was closely shut, and, that, during the very abort space of
time in which the performance took place, I heard nothing
but the sound of the water splashing in the glass.

Raps were next struck in the table, corresponding to ths
letters of the alphabet The spirit announced that he was
going to produce a special phenomenon in order to oonvinoe
me personally.

By his order the light was again extinguished. The luu^
monica then played a little sprightly motif, in six-eight.
Scarcely had the last note soimded when M. X. lighted ths
lamp. Upon a sheet of music-paper which had be^ placed
near the harmonica, the theme was written very correctly
in pencil. It would have been impossible for any one of the
company, in the complete darkness of the room, to write
down these notes upon the ruled staff-lines.

Thirteen freshly cut daisies lay scattered over the table.

" Hello I " says AI. X. ** these are daisies from the flowe^
pot at the end of the passageway."

As I said a moment ago, the door of the room where we
were met had remained closed, and no one had stirred. We
went into the passageway, and, on noticing the stems denuded
of their flowers, we could see very plainly that the daisies
came from the place indicated.

Scarcely had we entered the room, when the bell on the
table rose up to the very ceiling, ringing as it went, but fell
abruptly back as soon as it touched it.

On the next day, before my departure, I went to pay a
visit to M. X. He received me in his dining*hall. Through
the large open window a beautiful June sun flooded the
room with its brilliant light.

While we were conversing in a desultory way, a piece of
military music rang out in the distance. " If there is a
spirit here," said 1, smiling, *^ it ought by rights to acoom-

MY GENERAL INQUIRY 881

pany the music." At ooce Thythmic tape, in exact barmon;
with the double quick time, were heard id the table. The
crackle of somids ia it died away little by little in a decres-
cendo very skilfully timed to the last vanishing blare of the
bugles.

" Give OS a fine tattoo to finish," said I, when the sounds
had completely ceased. The reply was a series of sounds
like the heavy roll of drums, given with such force that the
table trembled on its legs. I put my hand on it and very
plainly felt the vibrations of the wood as it was struck by
the invisible force.

I asked if I might inspect the table. It was turned up-
side down in my presence, and I examined it, as well as
the floor, very carefully. I discovered nothing. Besides,
M. X. could not, you know, foresee, that, during my visit,
a military baud would pass by, and that I should ask the
table to accompany it by imitating the drum.

I afterwards returned to the city where these things oc-
curred and was present at other very curious s&mces. I
should be enchanted, my dear master and friend, as I have
said to you, to be your guide there some day. But this
" high functionary " absolutely insists on his incognito.

These remarkable observations by ray friend Jonci^ree
evidently have their value, and belong here, in the train of
all the preceding ones.

I give a few others below which we owe to an attentive
and sceptical observer, M. Castex-DSgrange, sub-director of
the National School of Fine Arts at Lyons, upon whose
veracity and sincerity not the least shadow of suspicion can
rest, any more than in the preceding iustances. I owe to
bis kindness a large nimiber of interesting letters, and I will
ask his permission to cite from them the most important pas-
sages.

The following is dated the 18th of April, 1899.

For the second time, 1 affirm upon my honor that I will
tell vou nothing that is not strictly true, and usually easy to

» YSTEIUOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Id spite of the calliiif; I follow, I am not at oU gifted

ith inugiti&I ion. I have lived much in the oompuiT of

-■iliyueUlU, mcB from the nature of th»r profession litlli

ren to credulity; and, whether it is ia conseqoence of 1115

itural disposition, or by reason of the principles wtiich I

oeorbed in tbie kind of company, I bav« always bees ver^

septieal.

This ia, indeed, one of the reasons why I abandoned my

MTchical ezjtcrimenta. I reached the most stupifying re-

toltf, and yet it was impossible for me to get to bdieve

tyaelf. I was thoroughly convinced that I was not seeking

I deoeiTe myself or to deceive others, and, not being able

BUimider myself to the evidence, I was always seeking

me other reason tlian the one given by the believera. Thai

«de me suffer, and I stopped.

I ben end this preamble, and am going to unfold to you
the course of my observations.

I was acquainted with a company of people, who were
occupied with Spiritualism and with turning-tables, and had
made them the butt of my wit,* a little; for, altbougb not
bitter or severe, I never neglected to play a good practical
joke on them when occasion served.

It seemed to me that these worthy people, who were, more-
over, very sincere, were all a little " cracked " (ituAouiet),
if I may be allowed so uncouth, or fin de siecle, an expression.

One day I was visiting them. The drawing-room was
lighted by two large windows. I began, as usual, by some
pleasantries. Their reply was in the shape of an invitatioa
to me to take part in the experiments.

" But," said I, " if I take a seat at your table it will not
turn any more, because I shall not push it."

" Come all the same."

Well, I declare upon my honor that, just for a joke, I
tried it. I had scarcely put my hands on the table when it
made a rush at me.

I said to the person facing me, " Don't poeb so hard."

* Tbe word uaed )ier« bj M. Caates-DAgrange ia tile da Ture, « thing
lUtB the )eatber.covered hags in our e^naiiuins, and uaed in fain ia
FraAce, to be pmnmelled b^ thoaa wiBning to tr; their fltreugth. — fraiw.

MY GENERAL INQUIBT 888

"But, dear sir, I was not pushing."
I put the oentre-table back in its place, but the same thing
occurred, again, once, twice, thrice. I began to get impatient

and said^

" What you are doing is not very clever. If you want to
convince me, don't push."

He replied to me, " Nobody is pushing, only you probably
have so much fluid in you that the table is attracted toward
you. Perhaps you could make it go, by yourself."

" Oh, if I myself could make it go, that would be diflFer-
cnt ! "

" Try it"

They all moved back. I remained alone face to face with
the table. I took hold of it, lifted it, thoroughly examined
it. There was no trick about it. I made every body go
behind me. I was facing the windows, and had my eyes
open, I assure you. I stretched my arms out as far as pos-
sible, in order to have a good view, only placing the ends of
my fingers on the table.

In a little less than two minutes it began to rock to and
fro. I confess that I felt a little foolish, not wishing to
surrender —

" Yes, perhaps it moves," said I. " It is possible that an
unknown fluid is acting upon it; at any rate, it does not
come toward me, and just now some one was pushing it."

" No," said one of the sitters, " nobody was pushing it ;
but, although you are highly charged with fluid, the assist-
ance of another person is needed for the production of the
phenomenon: you are not enough by yourself. Will you
allow one of us to put a hand upon yours, without touching
the table ? "

" Yes."

Someone put a hand on mine and / watched. The table
at once began to move, and came and pressed against me.
They all cried out, and claimed that they had caught a
medium in me. I was not very much flattered with the
title, which I considered as synonymous with " lunatic."

" You ought to try to write," said some one to me.

" What do you mean by that ? "

" Why, see here. You take paper and pen, let your arm

884 MTSTERTOrS PSTCHTC FORCES

He puriTS, and have the wish in ;our mind that some un-
lmOW» ftnan or force shall cause you to write."

I tried it. At the end of five minutes^iny arm f^lt as
If it ware vrepped in a wwkn blanket Tmij in apite ol
myiel^ vsj maA bcoan to traee at ttat maie atrolM^ 1km
e'a, t^M, lettera of alTioitt, aa a idiodboj t— *»i«^ to «f^
mnild do. Then, all of a sadden, eame the notdnova vm
attributed to Camlraute at Waterkol I aaanre too, laj
dur sir, tbat I am never in. the habit of using this oosna
and diiij term, and that there was no anto«qggBBtioa,
or imoonaaionB aot of my own, in the case. I waa afaaohtb^
atupefiad bj the ooeorrenoe.

I oontinned these experiments at ro^ own hooae.

1. One day, when I was seated at my wi itiuyd aA, I
felt the weird seixore in my ann. I let my arm ranain pis-
sive. The Unkoown wrote:

" Your friend Arond is coming to see yon. He is at tliia
moment in such and such an omnibus-ofBce in the suburbs.
He is aakiug the price of tickets and the hour of departure."

(This M. Aroud is chief of the bureau of police, prefecture
of the Rhone.) In fact, a half-hour afterwards, Aroud made
his appearance. I told him what had taken place.

" It is a good thing for vou that you are living in tha
nineteenth century," said he to me. " A few hundred years
ago you would not have escaped death at the stake."

2. On another occasion the phenomenon occurred again,
and this time alao I was at my writing desk:

" Your friend Dolard is coming to see you."
An hour afterward, sure enough he came. I told hitn
bow it happened that I was waiting for him. Although be
was very incredulous W nature, yet, for all that, this fact
set him to thinking. The nest day saw his re-appearance.
" Can you get a reply to a question I am going to ask
you ! " said be.

" Don't ask," I replied, " think it. We will try,"
I must here tell you parenthetically that I had known of
Dolard for thir^ years. He was my comrade at the Beaux-
Arts. I knew that he had lost an elder brother, that he
had been married, and had had the misfortune to lose, one

MY GENERAL INQUIRY 885

by one, all the members of his family. That was all I
Imew about them.

I took the pen and the Invisible wrote, " The sufferings
of your sister Sophia have just ended."

Now Dolard had mentally asked what had become of the
spirit of a sister named Sophia, whom he had lost forty-two
years ago, and about whom I had never heard a word spoken.

3. My principal at the School of Fine Arts in Lyons,
a former architect of the city of Paris, was M. H6din. This
M. Hedin had an only daughter, who some years ago had
married another architect, M. Forget, in Paris. The woman
became enceinte.

One day when I was thinking of anything but her, the
same thing occurred as before. The Invisible wrote :

" Mme. Forget is going to die,"

Mme. Forget was not at all ill, apart from her being in a
delicate situation. The next day morning, M. Hedin said to
me that his daughter was in her pains ; and the same evening
he told me that his wife had just set out for Paris to be
with her. The next day I received instructions to assume
his duties. Mme. Hedin had telegraphed to her husband to
come to her. Her daughter was taken with puerperal fever.
When the father got there he found only a corpse.

4. I had a cousin named Poncet (since dead) who was
formerly an apothecary, at Beaune (Cote-d' Or). I had
never been at his apartments. One day he came to Lyons
to see our aunt (she who had the vision about which I spoke
to you). We conversed about these extraordinary psychical
occurrences. He was incredulous.

" Well then," said he, " try to find for me a thing which
has no particular market value, but which I laid great store
by, because it belonged to my deceased wife. I had a little
packet of laces that she was very fond of, and I can't put my
hand on it."

The Unknown wrote, " It is in the middle drawer of the
secretary in the chamber, behind a package of visiting cards/'

My cousin wrote to his servant at Beaune, without giving
her any hint of our experiment, " Send by post a little
packet which you will find in [such a place] behind a package
of visiting cards."

886 MYSTEBIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

The laoes arrived hy letam mail

You will notice, my dear sir, that, during the e^eri*
mentSy I was bgr no means aslecqp or in a state of tranee^
and that I was conversing in my usual manner.

6. One of my childho(d friends, M. Laloge, at the present
time a dealer in coffees and chocolates at SaintrEtieone
(Loire), had had as his professor, as well as I, an enBellflnt
man whom we most highly esteemed, and who was named
ThoUon.*

M. Thollon, after having directed the educatioii of the
children of the Prince of Oldenburg, unde of the present
emperor of Russia, had returned to France and entered the
Nice Observatory.

We had the misfortune to lose him shortly after. Lalop
had a photograph of him but had lost it He oame and
begged me to try to find it The Unknown wrote, " The pkth
tograph is in the upper drawer of the secretary in the ehem-
her/'

Laloge had two rooms, — one which he called the " salon/'
and another called the " chamber."

" There is some mistake," said he. " I have turned every-
thing topsy-tur\'y in the place you mention and have found
nothing."

In the evening having to search for some object in the
drawer, he saw in the middle of a package of letter-paper
a little dark end of something sticking out He pulled it
forth: it was the photograph.

6. Camille Bellon, No. 50 Avenue de Noailles, at Lyons,
had tliree young children whose education he had intrusted
to a yoimg governess. This person left when the children
entered college, and, sometime after, she married a very
fine man, whose name I have unfortunately foigotten, bat
which I can easily find again if there is any need of it

This young woman came on her wedding trip to visit
her old employer. I was invited to go and pass a day with
them at the chateau of my friend Bellon. During the course
of this visit, we talked of spiritualistic phenomena; and the

* I had conaiderable acquaintance with him at the Nice Obaerratory,
where, in 1884 and 1885, I made with him apectroacopie obaenratioiis
on the rotation of the aun. — C. F.

MY GENERAL IKQUIRT 887

newly married man, a highly educated veterinary doctor,
joked me ahout my so-called mediumship. I, of course,
laughed aboat it and we parted the beet lund of friends.

Some daya afterward, I received a letter from my friend.
He had himself received a letter from the young lady, who
was in a great state of mind. She had lost her wedding
ring, and waa in despair. She begged my friend to ask me
to recover it for her.

The Mysterious Force wrote, " The ring slipped from
her finger while she was msleep. It is on one of the cleats
which hold up the maitress of the bed."

I transmitted the despfUch. The husband put hia hands
between the wood of the bed and the mattress. The wife
did the same thing. Nothing was foimd. Some days after-
wards,' having decided to change the arrangement of their
apartments, ^ey moved their bed into another room. Of
course they had to lift up the mattress, in order to get it
into the other chamber. The ring was upon one of the
cleats. They had not found it when they were hunting
for it, because it had slipped under the mattresa, which did
not adhere to the cleat in that particular place.

7. One of my friends, named Boucaut, who lived at 15
quai de la OuillotiSre at Lyons, had loat a letter which he
sadly wanted. He begged me to ask where it was.

The Invisible replied in writing, " He must reTnember
that he has an oven in his garden."

Before showing it to him, I began to laugh, saying that
it was a joke and had nothing to do with hia requeaL As he
insisted diat it did, I read it to him.

" Why yes," he said to me, "that agrees very well. My
tenant-farmer had just had his bread biQced. I had heapa of
papers which I wanted to get rid of, to bum np. My letter
must have been burned in the pile which I reduced to ashes."

8. One evening, in an assembly composed of a score of
persons, a lady dressed in black greeted my entrance with a
little nervous laugh. After the customary introductions, this
lady spoke to me aa follows:

" Sir, would it be poaaible to ask your spirits to reply to a
question I am going to ask you ! "

" In the first place, madam, I have no spirits at my die-

888 MTSTEBIOnS PSTCHIC FOBGES

posal ; bat I Bhaald be a laek-wit indeed if I said jen ToDi
of ooanei don't suppoae thftt I am nninteHigemt enon^ sot
to find some kind of an answer; and, oonaequentlyy if anj
* spiritSy' as you so kindly call them ahoold happen to re-
spond, yon would not be oanvinoed, and you would be ri|^t
Write your request Put it in an envelope there on the
tables and we wiU try. You see that I am not in a somnam-
bulistio state, and you must believe that it is wholly im-
possible for me to Imow the contents of what you are gning
to enclose in it^

So said| so dona

At the end of five minutes I assure vou I was wry mucb
embarrassed I had written a reply, but it was such thst
I did not date to communicate it But here it is:

*^ You are in a veiy bad way, and, if you persist, yoo
will be severely punished* Marriage is something sacred,
it should never be regarded as a question of money.^

After some oratorical precautions, I decided to read her
this reply. The lady blushed up to the roots of her hair
and stretched out her hands to seize hor envelope.

'^ Pardon me, madam/' I replied, putting my hand upon it
" You began by making fun of me. You wished a reply.
It is only just, since we are making an experiment, that we
know what the request was.'*

I tore open the envelope. Behold its ooAtents:

'^ Will the marriage take place that I am trying to bring
about between M. X. and Mile. Z ? And, in that case, shall
I get what I have been promised ? "

Notwithstanding this shameful exposure, the woman did
not consider that she was beaten. She asked a second ques-
tion under the same conditions.

Reply : " Leave me alone ! When I was living you aban-
doned me. Now donH bother me.'*

Upon this, the lady got up and disappeared I I told you
she was in mourning. This last request of hers was as fol-
lows : " What has become of the soul of my father t **

Her father had been ill for six months. Persons who were
present and who were stupefied at the results, told me that
during his illness she had not paid him a single visit

9. One day, shortly after I had lost one of my good friends,

MY GENERAL INQUIRT 889

t was seated at my writing-desk with my head resting on
my hand, and I was thinking of what the hereafter might
possibly he. If all the work that a man had done was to be
irretrievably lost, and if the beyond existed, I was wonder^
ing what the life might be that one would lead there. All
oi a sudden, the phenomenon well known to me occurred
(that weird seizure of the arm). Of course, I allowed my
arm to remain passive, and here is what I read:

" You wish to know what our occupations are ? We or-
^nize matter, we ameliorate the condition of the spirits, and,
above all, we adore the Creator of your souls and ours.''

A&AGO.

In dU the communications which I have obtained, every
time a word representing an idea of the Supreme Being —
such as Qody the All-Powerful, etc. — came under my pen,
the writing doubled in size, but immediately after resumed
the same dimensions as before.* It would be very easy for
me to give you still more numerous examples of the strange
things that happened to me, but those I have given seem to
me quite remarkable. I shall be happy if this true account
can give you any assistance in your important researches.

The letter which my readers have just perused contains
a series of cases of such great interest that I lost no time in
entering into regular correspondence with the author. And
first I thought I ought to ask him about the conclusions which
he himself had been able to draw from his personal expe-
rience. The following is an abstract of his replies :

May Ist, 1899.
You ask me, my dear sir, the following questions :
1. Whether I have reached absolute conviction as to the
existence of one or of several spirits?

I am a person of absolute good faith. I examined

* In the stences of which I spoke in the earlv part of thfs book (sec-
ond chapter), when the word "God" was dictated the table baat a
Mlute.— C. F.

890 ICTSTEfilOlTS PSYCHIC FOBCfES

myself as a surgeon would examine an invalid. I am a
person of such good faifh that I have long been aediiig
(without finding him) a skilful practitioner who would
oonsent to study in my own person the phenomemm while
it was taking place; to ascertain the state of my pnlae^ the
warmth of the skin, etc.| — in a word, the apparent physical
side. Furthermore^ in my opinion there is no autoHrog-
gestion in this thing; and the proof is that I was absolutdy
ignarant of the things that I was writing mecftanteaSy,—
80 mechanically that, when, by chance, my attention was
called away, whether by reading or by conversationy and I
forgot to look where my hand was goings when it approached
the edge of the paper the writing womd continue backward
across the sheet in rev^r^ed letters and put ae fast, so that I
was obliged to turn the paper over in order by holding it to
the light to read what was written on it

So then, if there is neither auto-suggestion in it, nor a
somnambulistic condition (I was completely awake and not
at all hypnotized), then there must be external '^forces"
acting upon my senses, ^' intelligent forces.'^ This is my
fixed and unalterable opinion.

Now are these forces spirits? Do they belong to beings
like ourselves? It is evident that this hypothesis would
explain many things, but leave quite a number obscure.
Since I several times discovered a mental state of the lowest
kind among these ^'beings,'' I have reached a conclusion
that it is not absolutely necessary to think that they are
<* men/^

We are told that there are stars which photography alone
can reveal, and which, possessing a color imperceptible to
our eye, are invisible to us. Then there are the gases through
which a human body passes without experiencing resistenoe.
Who will say then, that there are not around us invisible
beings?

And look at the instinct of the child, of the woman, of
feeble beings in general. They fear darkness; isolation
makes them afraid. This sentiment is instinctive, irra-
tional. Is it not due to an intuitive perception of the
presence of these invisible personages, or forces, against
which they are helpless? That is pure hypothesis on mj

MY GENERAL INQUIRT 391

part, but after all it seems to me defensible. As to the
number of the invisible beings, I believe they are l^on.

2. You ask me whether I have been able to establish their
identity.

I answer that they sign some name or other, choosing in
preference names of illustrious persons, in whose mouths
they sometimes put the most stupid sort of expTessions.

Furthermore the writing frequently ceases abruptly, as
if an electric current has just been interrupted, and that
without any appreciable reason. Then the writing changes,
and sometimes sensible things end in absurdities, etc.

How explain this tangle of contradictions 1 I was so
chafed and fretted by these incoherent results that I had
for a long time abandoned the study of psychic forces, when
your alluring researches came to wake in me my old self.

If the unconscious doubling of the personality of the in-
dividual (his extemolization) can, in an extreme case, be
sometimes admitted, it seems to me that there are cases
in which this explanation becomes possible.

But I will explain. If, as respects the facts which hap-
pened to me personally, and the authenticity of which J
affirm to you upon my honor, there are some in which this
extemalization could have been possible, there are others
in which it seems to me impossible.

Yes, strictly speaking, I might have been able, without
suspecting it, to externalize myself, or, rather, unknown to
myself, to be influenced by my friend Dolard when, in my
own presence, he mentally asked me what had become of the
soul of a deceased sister of whoBC name and very existence
I wHH ignorant ; yes, the same thing may, strictly speaking,
explain the responses I made to the lady who questioned me
on the subject of a marriage and her father, although it
would in that case be necessary to suppose that she dictated
to me the words that I was writing ; yes, my friend Boucaud,
who was hunting letters, might, at the moment when he
was asking me about them, have thought of that oven, of
the existence of which I was ignorant; yes, all of that is
(in the last analysis) possible, although it would need a
large amount of good will to admit it.

Yes, once more I say — and always vrith much good will

808 HYSTEBIOUS PSTOHIC FOSCES

— a table may be under the unoonaciouB dominatiaii of a
musician present and dictate a musical phrase. But, as it
stands, it is difiScult to admit the same phenomenon in the
case of Victor Hugo, whose curious sfianoes you have just
described to the public Why, just look at this great poet
who, when he is asked hj the table to put one or more ques-
tions in verse, and, not feeling that he is man enough in
spite of his genius, to improvise something passable, asks
for a breathing spell to prepare his questions, and brings
them in next day I — and yet you would wish that^ on this
same next day, a part of himself should perform its func-
tions, unknown to himself, and compose Ulieo, without any
preparation, verses at least as fine as those which he took
an entire day to create I — verses of a pitiless logie and
more profound than his own I

Yet let us admit even that You see, dear sir, that I
have all the good will possible, and that I have the most
profound respect for the scientific method. But can you
explain by oxtemalization the case of finding a lost object
when one is even ignorant of the way in which the apartment
is arranged where it has been lost ? or the ability to know,
two days in advance, of the death of a person about whom
one was not thinking at all? A possible coincidence, jou
will tell mo, but at least very strange.

And those inverted dictations ? and those in which we are
obliged to skip every other letter?

No, I believe that we need not give ourselves so much
trouble and rack our brains, for it seems to me that it is
like looking for mid-day at two o'clock in the afternoon. It
would require the labor of all the devils to explain how this
phenomenon can take place in our nature without the knowl-
edge of the proprietor. I do not like to see a part of my
personality scampering away, and then housing itself again
without my knowing anything about it.

As to what concerns the production of this extemaliza-
tion in a way which I may call voluntary — when a person
who feels himself dying thinks intensely about those whom
he loves and whose absence he deplores, yes, it may be that
his will, even unkno^vn to himself, suggesting the absent

Mr GENERAL INQUIRY 393

person produceB the phenomena of telepathy; but, in the
phenomena of which we are speaking, that explanation seems
to me more than donhtful.

I find mnch more simple the explanation that the phe-
nomena are caosed by the presence and the action of an
independent being, — a spirit, phantasm, or elemental.

In fine what are we all seeking ! The proof of the sur-
vival of the ego, of the individuality after death. To be or
not to be — it is all in that. For I frankly confess to you
if I am going to dissolve away again into the great All, I
should just as soon be annihilated. That is perhaps a weak-
ness ; but it cannot be helped. I hold above everything else
to my individuality ; not that I set a great value on it, but
the feeling is instinctive and I believe that at bottom every-
body is of this opinion. This then is the goal or end, which
at all epochs has powerfully interested man and interests
him still to-day.

One of the weightiest proofs of the survival of the indi-
vidual being that I have ever met with is, in my opinion,
the vision which my aunt had several days after the death
of a friend of hers who, in order to give her a proof of the
reality of her apparition, inspired in her by mental su^es-
tion the power of seeing her in the drcan only be
put in motion by the direct application of a mechanical force
sufficient to overcome its inertia, and orthodox science main-
tains that the idea of action at a distance is an erroneous
idea.

The authors of the present study assert, on the contrary,
that heavy bodies may be, and frequently are, put in motion
without any kind of direct application of mechanical force,
and that action at a distance is a well-established fact in
nature. We offer proofs of these propositions based on a
series of experiments undertaken for this purpose.

We often repeated these experiments, during more than
two years, with results that were convincing not only to our-
selves but to many other witnesses.

We do not understand how the scientific world has been
able to accept the idea that the expression '^ action at a dis-
tance " is a false one, unless those who see an error in the
assertion attach to these words a special meaning of which
we are ignorant.

It is certain that the sun acts at a distance upon the earth
and the other planets of the solar system. It is certain that
a piece of anything thrown into the air falls back in conse-
quence of the attraction of gravitation, — and that, too, at no
matter what distance. The law of gravitation, so far as we
know it, is universal, and it is not yet proved that there ex-
ists a ponderable, or otherwise palpable, medium which serves
to transmit the force.*

We go a little farther, even, and declare that, probably,
all action of matter is an action at a distance, especially
since (so far as our knowledge goes) there are not in the
whole universe two particles of matter in absolute contact;
and, consequently, if they act the one upon the other, it must

* Newton, as is well known, declares, in his letter to Bentley, that
he can only explain gravitation by supposing the existence of a medium
which transmits it. Yet, to our senses, the ether would not be a ma-
terial thing. But, however that may be, celestial bodies do certainly
act at a distance one upon another.

402 MYSTERIOnS PSYCHIC FOBCES

be at some distance^ this distanoe being infinitely amall and
entirely inappreciable to our senses.

We therefore maintain that the law of movement at a dis-
tance is a universal mechanical law and that the idea that it
does not exist is a kind of a paradoZ| simply a hairsplitting
quibble.

The two authors of this study sometinwi eqwrimwitcd
together, sometimes separately, more often with one or mors
additional experimenters, sometimes with four, five^ sij^
seven or eight They witnessed at different times^ in full
light, the vigorous and even violmit movements of a laigs
table which nobody touched directly or indirectly. The per
sons mentioned were all friends of theirs^ livings like them,
in the city of Washington, and all sincerely desirous of
knowing the truth of the matter. There was no professional
medium.

The scene opens in a little parlor in our house (they
write). In the centre of the room is a large heavy oak table
in marquetry, which weighs about one hundred - pounds.
The top is oval and measures four feet and a half by three
and a half. It has only a single support, in the middle,
branching off into three legs, or feet, with casters. Above it
is the chandelier, several burners of which are lighted and
give sufficient light for the ladies to read and work by the
table. Dr. Coues is seated in his easy-chair, in a comer of
this large room, at a distance from the table, reading or writ-
ing by the light of two other burners.

The ladies express the wish to see if the table ^^ will do
something," as they say.

The cloth is removed. Mrs. C, seated in a low rocking-
chair, places her hands on the table. Mrs. A., also seated
in a low easy-chair, does the same, facing her at the opposite
side of the table. Their hands are opened and placed upon
the upper surface of the table. In this position, they can-
not lift the table by themselves with their hands : that is an
entire impossibility. Neither can they push it by leaning

MY GENERAL INQUIRY 403

on it in order to make it rise on the opposite side, except by
muscular effort easily observed. Neither can they lift the
table unaided with their knees, since these are at least a foot
away from the top and since moreover their feet never leave
the floor. Finally, they cannot lift the table by means of
their toes slipped under a foot of the table, because the table
is too heavy.

Under these conditions, and beneath the full light of at
least four gas jets, the table habitually began to crack or snap,
and produced divers strange noises quite different from those
which could be obtained by leaning upon it. These noises
soon showed, if I may so say, some reason in their incoher-
ence, and certain definite strokes or rappings came to rep-
resent " yes," and " no." According to an arranged code of
signals, we were able to enter into a conversation with an
unknown being. Then the table was generally polite enough
to do what it was asked. One side or another of it tipped as
we wished. It went from one side or the other according
as we requested. Under these circumstances we made the
following experiments :

The two ladies removed their hands from the table and
drew back their chairs, while still remaining seated in them
at a distance of one or two feet. Dr. Coues from his arm
chair saw distinctly above and beneath the table. The feet
of the ladies were from twelve to thirty-six inches distant
from the feet of the table. Their heads and their hands were
still farther off. There was no contact with it. Even their
dresses were not within a foot or two of it. Under these
conditions, the table lifted one of its feet and let it fall heav-
ily back. It lifted two feet to a height of from two to six
inches, and, when they fell back, the blow was heavy enough
to make the floor shake, and make the glass globes of the
chandelier tinkle. Besides these energetic, even violent
movements, the table displayed its power by means of raps
or balancings.

Its yea's or its no's were commonly rational, sometimes in
agreement with the ideas of the one who put the question,
sometimes in persistent opposition to those ideas. Some-
times the invisible agent affirmed that he was a certain per-
son, and maintained that individuality during an entire

4M MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

ince. Or possiblj' this characl4>r was dropped, bo to spetk,
«r It t^ast ceased to appear, and another person, or another
WJBg, took ita place, with different ideas and opinion*.
■ TVvoupon, the raps or the movementa also differed. Finallj
the inammate table, which was supposed to be inert, took
«K Ibr the momeut all tlio appearance of a living being pos-
•ming ail intelHgMioG an keen as that of an ordinary person.
It ncpreased itaclf with aa mueh will and individuality a»
OUT f ricndii oauwd it to do by tlieir voices and their gestures.
AaA yet, during this whole time no one of the three persons
fnatnt totiched tlie table, the two ladies being at a distance
of two or three feet, and Dr. Couea seven to ten feet, in a
COlMr of the room, which was lighted by four gas jeti
Tboe was no other person present tliat one could see; If
tkil Was not a case of telekinesis, or niovcinent of objects
witbout contact, absolutely different from ordinary and nor-
Dul mechanical movement, we can certainly no longer put
trust in onr aensea.

These observations of Dr. and Mrs. DUiott Ooase are
all aa positively accurate and anthentic aa the oocnrrmce of
an earthquake, the falling of a fire-ball from the sky, a chem-
ical combination, an experiment with an electrical machine.
The sceptics who smile at them and say that everytbing is
fraud are persons in whom the sense of logic is wanting.

Aa to the explanation to be given of them, that is a differ
ent question from that of the pure and simple authentication
of the facta.

Those to whom these descriptions of phenomena and ex-
periments appeal (adds the narrator) must take particular
notice that the authors of this study, althon^ they have had
occasion to speak of conversations held with the table and
to mention special tones of voice, and intelligible messages
imparted by pieces of inert wood, categorically refuse to ap-
proach the question of the source or origin of Gie intelligence
ihus manifested. That is an entirely different question,
with which we do not meddle. The single^ or at least the

MY GENERAL INQUIRY 405

principal, object of the publication of tbie study is to estab-
Usb the trutb of moTement without contact.

But, baviog very plainly verified the fact and established
it by proo& in our possession, it might perhaps be expected
of QB that ve o£Fer some explanation of the extraordinary
things that we vonch for. We respectfully reply that we are
both too old and perhaps too wise to claim to explain any-
thing. When ve were younger, and fancied that we knew
cveiything, we could explain everything, — at least to our
own satisfaction. Now that we hare lived long enough, we
have discovered that every explanation of a thing raises at
least two new questions, and we do not feel any desire to
stnmble against new difficulties ; for these multiply in
geometrical ratio, in proportion to the extent and accuracy of
our reeearches. We hold to this principle, that nothing is
explained so long as there still remains an explanation to
be sought. Under these conditions, we shall do better to
recognize the inexplicability of these psychical mysteries, be-
fore, rather than after, futile theories about them.

There you have what is absolutely reasonable, whatever
may be said of it.

And now, after these innumerable verifications of facta,
and after all these professions of faith, shall I myself, have
the courage, the pretension, the pride or the simplicity of
mind, to start in search of the much desired information !

Whether we find it or not, the facts nevertheless exist. It
was the object of this book to convince my readers of this, —
readers who should give to the subject their close attention,
be possessed of unbiased judgment and good faith, and
have the eyes of the spirit wide open and free from all weak-

GHAPTEBXn

XXPUklTATOET HTPOTBBSXt — THSORIX8 AlTD DOOTBIIISB —

ooKOLuaioira of thx AirrHOB

It is quite in the fishioiiy as a general things to profeiB
abeolute soepticiam regarding the phenomena which form the
anbject of the present work. In the opinion of three-quar-
ters of the citixena of onr planet all unexplained noises in
haunted houses; all displacements without contact of bodies
more or less heavy; all movements of tables, pianos, or other
objects produced in the experiments styled Spiritualistic;
all communications dictated by raps or by unconscious
writing; all apparitions, partial or total, of phantom
forms — are illusions, hallucinations, or hoaxes. "No ex-
planation is needed. The only rational opinion is that all
^^ mediums," professional or not, are impostors, and the par
ticipators in a stance are imbeciles.

Sometimes one of these eminent judges consents, not to
cease tipping the wink and smiling in his royal competency,
but to condescend to be present at a stance. If, as only too
frequently happens, no response to the command of the will
is obtained, the illustrious observer retires, firmly convinced
that, by bis extraordinary penetration, he has discovered the
cheat and blocked everything by his clairvoyant intuition.
He at once writes to the journals, shows up the fraud, and
sheds humanitarian crocodile tears over the sad spectacle of
men, apparently intelligent, allowing themselves to be taken
in by impostures, detected by him at the first blush.

This first and easy explanation, that everything in the

406

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 407

manifestatioas is fraud, has been so often exposed, discusaed,
and refuted during the course of this work that my readers
probably consider it (at least I hope they do) as entirely,
absolutely, and definitely decided and thrown out of the ring.

However, I advise jou not to speak too freely of these
things at table, or in a drawing room if you do not like to
have people making fun of you, more or less discreetly. If
you air your views in public, you will produce the same
effect as those eccentric fellows of the time of Ptolemy, who
dared to speak of the movement of the earth and excited
Buch inextinguishable laughter in respectable society that
the echoes ring with it still in Athens, Alexandria, and
Home. It is only a repetition of what took place when
Galileo spoke of the spots on the sun, Galvani of electricity,
Jenner of vaccine, Jouffroy and Fulton of the steamship,
Chappe of the telegraph, Lebon of gas-lighting, Stephen-
son of railways, Daguerre of photography, Boucher de
Perthes of the fossil man, Mayer of thermodynamics, Wheat-
stone of the transatlantic cable, etc If we could gather up
all the sarcasms launched at the heads of these " poor crazy-
wits," we should get a fine basket of venerable blunders,
moldy as a remainder biscuit after a voyage.

So let us not speak too much of our mysteries — unless
it amuses us, in our turn, to ask some questions of the pret-
tiest dolls in the company. One of them inquired in my
presence, yesterday evening, what the man named Lavoisier
did, and whether he was dead. Another thought that
Auguste Comte was a writer of songs and asked if any one
knew one of them which would suit a mezzo-soprano voice.
Another was astonished that Louis XIV had not built one of
the two railway stations of Versailles nearer the palace.

Moreover, on my balcony, a member of the Institute, who
saw Jupiter shining in the southern sky at the meridian
point, over one of the cupolas of the Observatory, obstinately

408 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

maintained in my presence that this luminary was the polar
star. I did not dispute the point with him too long!

There are not a few people who believe at once in the
value of universal suffrage and in that of titles of nobility.
Of course, we will not force these Janus-faced wise men to
vote upon the admissibility of psychic phenomena into the
sphere of science.

But we will henceforth consider this admissibility as
something granted, and, tossing back to the laughing sceptics,
to the habitues of clubs and cliques, the general opinion of
the world, of which I have just spoken^ b^in here our logical
analysis.

We have had under consideration during the course of this
work several theories by scientific investigators which are
worthy of attention. Lot us first of all sum these up.

In the opinion of Gasparin, these unexplained movements
are produced by a fluid, emanating from us imder the action
of our will.

Professor Thnrv thinks that this fluid, which he calls
psychode, is a substance which forms a link between the soul
and the body; but there may also exist certain wills external
to ourselves, and of unknown nature, working side by side
with us.

The chemist Crookes attributes the phenomena to psychic
force, this being the agent by which the phenomena are pro-
duced ; but he adds that this force may well be, in certain
cases, seized upon and directed by some other intelligence.
^* The difference between the partisans of psychic force and
those of Spiritualism,'' he writes, *' consists in this: we
maintain that it is not yet proved that there exists a direct-
ing agent other than the intelligence of the mediimi and
that presence and actions of the spirits of the dead are felt
in the phenomena, while, on the contrary, the Spiritualists
accept as an article of faith, without demanding more proofs
• thereof, that these spirits are the sole agents in the produc-
tion of the observed facts.''

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES ^9

Albert de Bocbas defines these phenomena as " an extev'
ruUizalion of motivily," and considers them to be produced
bj the fluidic double, " the astral body " of the medium, a
nerve-flnid able to act and perceive at a distance.

Lombroso declares that the explanation must be sought
simply in the nervous system of the medium, and that we
have in the phenomena transformation of forces.

Dr. Ochorowicz affirms that he bas not found proofs in
favor of the Spiritualistic hypothesis, any more than he has
in favor of the intervention of external intelligences, and that
the cause of the phenomena is a fluidic double detaching it-
self from the organism of the medium.

The astronomer Porro is inclined to admit the possible
action of nnlmown spirits, of living forms different from our
own, not necessarily the souls of the dead, but psychical enti-
ties to be studied. In a recent letter be wrote me that the
theoBophic doctrine appeared to him to approach the nearest
to a solution.*

Prof. Charles Eichet thinks that the Spiritualistic hypoth-
esis is far from being demonstrated, that the observed facts
relate to an entirely different order of causes, as yet very
di£Scult to disentangle and that in the present state of our
knowledge no final conclusion can be agreed on.

The naturalist Wallace, Professor Morgan, and the elec-
trician Varley declare, on the other hand, that sufficient proof
has been given them to warrant them in accepting without
reserve the Spiritualistic doctrine of disembodied souls.

Prof. James H. Hyalop, of the University of Columbia,
who has made a special study of these phenomena, in the Pro-
'ceedings of the London Society for Psychical Research, and
in his works Science and a Future lAfe and Enigmas of
Psychical Research, thinks that there are not yet enough
severely critical verifications to warrant any theory.

*Tba initialed know that accordini^ to this doctrine the teirntrial
Imman being it composed of five entities: the physical body; the ethe-
real double, a little lets grass, aurviving the flrat for aome time; the
astral body, atill more subtile; the menta) body, or intelliReDce, inr-
viviBg the three preceding; and fiDally the Ego, or indeatructiDle soul.

4Mt MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Dr. QxMW^ a (Hi<'i£i1i' of Piciie Jan et , doei aot ukut
di^pkomuni of olqaet>t or lerititioBf or tin gnatBr part of
dw fiote dMcribed in this book is proved, tnd thbOsiriat
ii Mlled Spirittulism it & qneotioii of medioal liaSogj, of
" Uw iAyiii»«tbdc«7 of tho aerrou oentaei^'* in irlueh s oel-
ofinted oereDnl pomoa ivitli s imuiail vmiaetar named 0;
pltyi en antoouitio iwe of a verj eariow deaoriptioB.

Dr. ICazwdl oomchidM from hia oliHiTationa that the
neatv part of the pheBomena, tbe nalifef of wbidi oannot
be donbtod, are prodiieed hj a force eiiitiiig in n^ diat ^»
iiace ia intelligiBat, and that the iatdliMtiee manifiMled
oomea from the e]qieruiienters. Thisiroiildbeakmdof ool-
leotiTe oonadoiuneaL

K. Uanjel Mangin does not adopt thii "eoUeotiTe eoa-
adcnisneia," and deelazea thai it ia certain that the being in
the B&mceB, who aaserta that he ia a manifwtatim ia " the
■nb-oonsciousnees of the medium."

The foregoing are some of the principal opinions. It
would take a whole book to discuas in writing the proposed
explanations, but that is not my object. My aim was to focus
the question on what concilia tub asmissibilitt of thx

PUEnOHBMA INTO THE HFHESE OF FOBITIVS BCXKRCS.

However, now that this is done, we cannot but ask oui^
selves, what conclusions may be drawn from all these ob-
aervationa.

If we wish to obtain, after this mass of verifications, a
satisfactory rational explanation, it seems to me we must
proceed gradually, classify the facts, analyse them, and only
admit them in proportion to their absolute and demonstrated
certainty. We live in a very complex universe, and the most
singular confusion has arisen among phenomena which are
very distinct one from another.

As I said in 1869, at the tomb of Allan Eardec, " The
causes in action are of several kinds, and are more nuIne^
0U8 than one would suppoee."

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 411

Can we explain the observed phenomena, or at least any
portion of it? It is our duty to try. For this purpose I
shall classify them in the order of increasing difficulties. It
is always advisable to begin with the beginning.

May I hope that the reader will have got a clear idea in
his mind of the experiments and observations set forth in
the previous pages of this work ? It would be a little insipid
to refer every time to the pages where the phenomena have
been described.

1. Rotation of thk table> with contact of the hands of a

certain number of operators.

This rotation can be explained by an unconscious impulse
given to the table. All that is necessary is that each one
push a little in the same way, and the movement will take
place.

2. Movement of the table, the hands of the experiment-

ers resting upon it.

The operators push and the table is led along without their
knowing it, each one acting in a greater or less degree. They
think they are following it, but they are really leading it
along. We have in this only the result of muscular eflPorts,
generally of a rather slight nature.

3. Lifting of the table on the side opposite to that upon

which the hands of the principal actor are placed.

mthing is more simple. The pressure of the hands upon
a centre-table with three legs suffices to produce the lifting
of the leg the farthest removed, and thus to strike all the
letters of the alphabet. The movement is less easy in the
case of a table with four legs; but it can also be obtained.

These three movements are the only ones, it seems to me,
which can be explained without the least mystery. Still, the
third is only explicable in case the table is not too heavy.

4. Imparting life to the table^

Several experimenters being seated around the table, and
forming the chain with the desire of seeing it rise, the waves

413 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

of a kind of vibrations (light at first) are perceived to be
passing through the wood. Then balancings are noticed,
some of which may be due to muscular impulses. But al-
ready something more is now mingled in the process. The
table seems to be set in motion of itself. Sometimes it rises,
no longer as if moved by a lever, or by pressure on one side,
but under the hands, as if it were stiddng to them. This
levitation is contrary to the law of gravitation. Hence we
have here a discharge of force. This force emanates from
our organism. There is no sufficient reason to seek for any-
thing else. Nevertheless, what we have detected is a thing
of prime importance.

5. Rotation without contact.

The table being in rapid rotation, we can remove our hands
from it, and see it continue the movement The velocity or
momentum acquired may explain the momentary contin-
uation of this movement and the explanation given in the
case of Ko. 1 may suffice. But there is more in it than this.
Rotation is obtained by holding the hands at a distance of
some inches above the table, without any contact. A light
layer of flour dusted over the table is found to be untouched
by a single finger. Hence the force emitted by the operators
must penetrate the table.

The experiments prove that we have in us a force capable
of acting at a distance upon matter, a natural force, gener-
ally latent, but developed in different degrees in different
mediums. The action of the force is manifested imder con-
ditions as yet imperfectly determined. (See pp. 81, 248 et
seq.) We can act upon brute matter, upon living matter,
upon the brain and upon the mind. This action of the will
is shown in telepathy. It is shown more simply still bj
means of a well-known experiment : at the theatre, in church,
when hearing music, a man accustomed to the exercise of will-
power, and sitting several rows of seats behind a woman,
say, compels her to turn around in less than a minute. A
force emanates from us, from our spirit, acting imdoubtedly
by means of etherwaves, the point of departure of which
is a cerebral movement.

And there is nothing very mysterious in this, I bring

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 413

my hand near a thermometer, and ascertain that something
inTisible is escaping from my band, and, at a certain re-
move, making the colomn of mercury rise. This Bomething
else is heat ; that is to say, aerial waves in movement Then
why might not other radiationa emanate from our hands and
from our whole being I

But, nevertheless, there is a very important scientific fact
to be eetablisbed.

This physical force is greater than that of the muscles, as
I am going to prove.

6. LiFTino OF WEiauTS.
A table is loaded with sacks of sand and with stones weigh-
ing altc^ther from 165 to 176 pounds. The table lifts each
of its three legs several times in succession. But it suo-
cumba under the load and is broken. The operators ascer-
tain that their muscular force would not have sufSoed to
produce the observed movements. The will acts by a dy-
namic prolongation.

7. LlFTINQB WITHODT CONTACT.

The hands forming the chain some inches above the side
of the table which is to be lifted, and all wills being concen-
trated on the one idea, the lifting of each of the legs in suc-
cession takes place. The liftings are more readily obtained
than rotations without contact An energetic will seems to
be indispensable. The unknown force passes from the ex-
perimenters to the table without any contact. If the table
is dusted over with flour, as I said, not the slightest finger^
touch is seen to be imprinted on it

The will of the sitters is in play. The table is ordered
to make such and such a movement and it obeys. This will
seems to be prolonged beyond the bodies of the operating
experimenters in the shape of a force that is quite intense.

This power is developed by action. The balancings pre-
pare for the rising and the latter for complete levitation.

8. BeDDCIRO THB WEIOHT 07 THB TABLE OB OTHEB OB-
JECTS.

A quadrangular table is suspended by one of its sides to a
dynamometer attached to a cord which is held above by some

■STERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES
(ok. The needle of flio dj-namoineter, wliich,
)Uie ur rpst, indicati?s 35 kilogracns, gradually descends
3, 1, ulognuus.

mahogany board is placed horizontally, and hung by one
a to a spring balance. This balance (or ecales), has t
Int which touches a pane of glass blackened by smok&
in this pane of glasa is put iu inovemeut, the needle
L«;8 a horizontal line. During the experiments, this line
no longer straight, but marks reductions and increments of
eight, produced without any contact of hands. In the ex-
riments of Crooke-s we saw that tho weight of a board in-
■ijia^d almost V/^ pounds.

'' i medivim places hia handa upon tht' back of a chair and
I the chair.

The dynamometric experiments th&t we have JDBt recalled
themselves go to show this augmentation.

I have more than once seen, in other circumstances, a
table become bo heavy that it was absolutely impossible for
two men to lift it from the floor. When they aucceeded in
doing so, in a measure, by means of quick jerks, it still
seemed to stick to the floor as if held by glue or india rubber,
which immediately pulled, it back to the floor after it had
been slightly displaced.

In all these experiments, there is proof of the action of an
unknown natural force emanating from the chief expe^
imenter or from the collective powers of the group, an organic
force under the influence of the will. It is not necessary to
suppose the presence of superhuman spirits.

10. Th» cohpletb ljftino op, oe lbvitation of thb

TABLE.

As there may be confusion in applying the word " lifting "
to a table which only rises on one side at a certain angle,
while still touching the floor, it is expedient to apply the
word " levitation " to the case in which it is completely sep-
arated from the floor.

Generally, in levitation, it rises from six to eight inches

EXPIANATOEY HYPOTHESES 415

from the floor, for 8ome aeconda only, and then falls back.
It moves up in a balancing, undulating, heeitating way, with
effort, and then falls straight down. While resting our
hands upon it, we have the sensation of a fluid resistance, as
of it were in water, — the kind of fluid sensation we ex-
perience when we bring a piece of iron into the field of force
of a magnet.

A table, a chair or other movable article sometimes rises,
not merely a foot or so, but almost to the height of one's
head, and even as high as the ceiling.

The force brought into play is considerable.

11. Levitahoh of hcmah bodies.

This case is of the same order as the preceding. The me-
dium may be raised with his chair and placed upon the table,
sometimes in unstable equilil^um. He may also be lifted
alone (without the chair).*

In this case the Unknown Force does not seem to be simply
mechanical : intention is mingled with the act, and ideas of
precaution, which, however may proceed from the mentality
of the medium himself, aided perhaps by that of the sitters.
This fact seems to us to otmtravene known scientific lawa.

* Thne obaerrationi maj be compared with a little Mcial dirmioii
which ii rather popular, and is particularly described in one of the
first works of Sir David Brewater (Lettert to Wtiter Stott upoa .Va-
Ivral Magic) in the (ollowiiia tenni:

" The heaviest person of the company lies down on two chairs, the
ahoolders resting on one and the l^s on the other. Four persons, one
at each shoulder apl one at cad foot, try to lift him, and at first find
the thing difficult to do. Then the sabject of the experiment* py* t*o
signals by clapping his hands tsrice. At the first signal, he and the
four others inhale deeply. When the five person* are full of air be
gives the second signal, which is for the lifting. This takes plare with-
out the leaat dJI^ulty, as if the person lifted were as light as a
feather."

I have frequently performed the same experiment upon a man in a
utting posture by pladng two Angers under his legs and two nuler
his arm-pits, the operators inhaling all together nniformly.
I This is undoubtedly a caae of biological action. But what i* tW (•■
■ential nature of gravitatioD! Faraday r^arded it as an "el^^trb-
magnetic " force. Weber explains the movemeBt of the plawtn arijund
the sun by " electro-dynamism.'' The tails of comet*, always turiMd
away from the snn, indicate a solar repulsion coinndent with tbe al-
trartion. We know no mor« to.da7 tban in the time «f Newtm what
gravitation reallf ia.

416 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

It is the same case as that of the cat which knows how to
turn of itself, without any outside support or leverage, when
it falls from a roof, and always falls on its feet, a fact con-
trary to the principles of mechanics taught in every unive^
sity in the world.

12. Lifting of vbey heavy pieces of fubititube.

A piano weighing more than 750 pounds rises up off of
its t\\*o front Ic^, and it is ascertained that its weight varies.
The force with which it is animated arises from the prox-
imity of a child eleven years old, but it is not the conscious
will of this child which acts. — A heavy oak dining-table may
rise so high that its under side can be inspected during the
levitation.

13. Displacement of objects without contact.

A heavy easy-chair moves about of its own accord in the
room. Heavy curtains reaching from the ceiling to the floor
are forcibly swelled out as if by a gust of wind, and envelop
as with a hood the heads of persons seated at a table, at a
distance of three feet and more. A centre table persists in
the endeavor to climb upon the experiment-table — and gets
there. While a sceptical spectator is bantering the " spir-
its," the table about which the experiments are taking place
makes a move towards the incredulous person, drawing the
sitters along with it, and pins him to the wall until he begs
for mercy.

As in the preceding cases, these movements may represent
the expression of the will of the medium, and may not nec-
essarily indicate the presence of a mind external to his own.
Nevertheless — ?

14. Raps and typtology.

In tables, in pianos, and other pieces of furniture, in the
walls, in the air, raps are heard, and their vibrations per
ceived by the touch. They somewhat resemble the sounds
obtainable by tapping against a piece of wood with the joint
of the bent finger. The question arises, Whence come these
noises? The question is asked aloud. They are repeated.
The request is made that a certain number of strokes be

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 417

rapped. The raps are heard. Well-known aire are aceom-
paiiied hy raps beaten in perfect time with them and iden-
tifiable as the counterpart of the airs. When bits of musio
are played, the accompaniment is rapped out. Things take
place aa if an inviBible being were listening and acting. But
how could a being without acoustic nerve and without a tym-
panum hear I The sonorous waves must strike aometbing in
order to be interpreted. Is this a mental transmission 1

These raps are made. Who makes them ? And how (
The mysterious force emits radiations of wave-lengths inac-
cessible to our retina, but powerful and rapid, without doubt
more rapid than those of light, and situated beyond the ultra-
violet. Besides, light impedes their action.

In proportion as we advance in the examination of the
phenomena, the psychic, intellectual, mental element is more
and more mingled with the phyBical and mechanical element.
In the case we are considering we are forced to admit the
presence, the action, of a thoughL Is this thought simply
that of the mcdiiun, of the chief experimenter, or the result-
ant of the thoughts of all the sitters united ?

Since these raps or those made by the legs of the table, on
being interrogated, dictate words and phrases and express
ideas, there is something more in the matter than a simple
mechanical action. The unknown force, the existence of
which we have been obliged to admit in the preceding observa-
tions, is in this case at the service of an intelligence. The
mystery grows complicated.

It is owing to this intellectual element that I proposed (be-
fore 1865; see p. xix) to give the name "psychic" to this
force, a name proposed anew by Crookes in 1871. We saw
also that, as early as the year 1855, Tbury had proposed the
name " paychode " and " ecteneic " force. From this on, it
would be impossible for us in our examination not to take
into consideration this psychic force.

Up to this point, Qasparin's fluid might suffice, just as un-
conscious muscular action sufficed for the first three classes
of facts. But starting from this fourteenth class, the psychic
order plainly manifests itself (and even in the preceding
class we begm already to divine its presence).

418 mrSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

15. MaJ,1.ET-B1*W8.

I han hBtrd — as have all othi?r experimenters — not onlj
■liarp li^t nips upon a table, like those of which I have just
been tpetkiai^ bat mallat-blow^ ot Vknm of die fiat wpm i
doOT, «p«ble of hioAhig down • nm if im had nomd
them. GcDmllj, dwH tnawndoBi Umn tn a pFotMlatiai
•gainst ■ denial on the part itf 008 of tbsrittm. Thonbis
&m an intention, a irQl, an intaDigBnaB. Th^ mi^ abo
be dne to tbe medimn, who ii indignant, or iriw ia anniBag
binuelf or henell The aetim ia not maannlar; for du
hands and foet of the medium are hd^ and the n^ping m^
occur aome dirtanoe away from him or her.

19. ToDOHIKCM.

Tnud can eiqtiain those whtdi tafce place within the leadi
of the medium's hands, for they caiij occur in the dazfatem

But thej have been felt at a certain diatanoe beyood this
reach aa if the hands of the medium were prolonged.

17. AcnoB or invisibls HAime.

An accordion in an open-work case, or cage, which keeps
any other hand from touching it, is held in one hand by the
end opposite the keys. Presently the instrument begins to
lengthen and shorten of itself and plays various melodies.
Ad invisihle hand with fingers (or something like them),
must therefore be acting. (Experiment of Croc^es with
Home.) As the reader has seen I repeated this experiment
with Eusapia.

Another time, a music-box, the handle of which was turned
by an invisible hand, played in perfect time with the mn«o
movements that Eusapia was making upon my cheek.

An invisible hand forcibly snatched from my hand a blod
of paper which I was holding out with extended arm at tlie
height of my heed.

Invisible hands removed from M. Schiaparelli's bead hia
spectacles (furnished with a spring), which were firmly fas-
tened behind his ears, and that so nimbly and with anch li^
touch that he did not perceive it until afterwards.

EXPLANATOET HYPOTHESES 419

18^. Apparitions of handb.

The hands are not always invisible. Sometimes semi-lu-
minous ones are seen to appear in the dim light, — hands of
men, hands of women^ himds of children. Sometimes they
have clear-cut outlines. They are generally firm and moist
to the touchy sometimes icy cold. At times they melt away
in the hand. For my part I was never able to grasp one.
It was always the mysterious hand that took mine, — often
feeUng through a curtain, or sometimes by nude^ contact,
or pinching my ear, or running its fingers through my hair
with great rapidity.

19. Apparitions of heads.

For my part, I have only seen two : the bearded silhouette
at Monfort-FAmaury, and the head of a young girl with high-
arched forehead, in my drawing-room. In the case of the
first I had believed that there was a mask held at the end
of a rod. But at my own home, there was no possibility of
an accomplice, and at present I am not less sure of the first
instance than of the other. Moreover, the testimony of other
observers is so precise and so often given that it is imperative
that it be classed with my own.

20. Phantoms.

I have never seen any of these nor photographed them, but
it seems to me impossible to be sceptical about that of Katie
^ing, observed for three consecutive years by Crookes and
others who experimented with the medium Florence Cook.
One can scarcely doubt, also, the reality of the phantoms seen
by the committee of the Dialectical Society of London. We
have seen that trickery plays a frequent role in this sort of
apparitions; but, in the experiments just mentioned, the ob-
servations were really conducted with such perspicacity that
they are safe from all objection, and have on them the stamp
of a purely scientific character.

These phantoms, like the heads and the hands mentioned,
seem to be condensations of fluids produced by the powers of
the medium, and do not prove the existence of independent
spirits.

420 MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FOBCES

When the hand is stretched out, the rabbisg of a beard can
be felt upon it This happened to me, as well aa to others.
Did the beard really exist, or was it only a case of tactual and
visual sensations? The case here immediately following
pleads in favor of its reality.

21. iMPBEsaioire of hxads and of hahdb.

The heads and the hands formed are sufficiently dense to
leave a mould of their features and shape imprinted in the
putty or the day. Perhaps the most curious thing ia that it
is not necessary that these weird formations, these forces, be
visible in order to produce impressions. We have seen a vig-
orous gesture imprint itself at a distance in clay.

22. Pabsino of matteb thhough icattsb. — Thahsfsbs^

or the bbingino in of objects.

A book has been seen passing through a curtain. A bell
has passed from a library-room, locked with a key, into a
drawing-room. A flower has been seen passing perpendic-
ularly do>Miward through a dining-room table. Some have
thought thoy had ocular proof of the mysterious appearance
of plants, of flowers, of fruits, and other objects, which (as
the claim wont) had passed through walls, ceilings, doors.

The latter phenonionon took place several times in my
presence. But I was never able to get certain proof of it
\mdcr unimpeachable conditions; and I have ferreted out
many a trick.

The experiments of Zollner (a wooden ring entering into
another wooden ring, a string tied at the two ends making
a knot, etc.) would, of course, be a thing of exceptional in-
terest if the medium Slade had not the bad reputation of be-
ing just a skilful prestidigitator, — a reputation probably
only too well merited. I should think that there is good
reason to suppose that the experiments of Crookes are au-
thentic.

Has space only three dimensions ? We will set this ques-
tion aside.

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 421

23. Manitsstatioits dikscted bt ah intslliqenob.
These have been already glimpsed in a certain number of
the preceding cases. The forces in action here are of the
psychical as well as the physical cIabb. The question ia to
know whether the intellect of the medium and of the sitters
is sufficient to explain everything.

In all the cases I have previously mentioned, this intellect
seem to suffice, but only by attributing to it occult faculties of
prodigious potency.

In the present state of our knowledge, it is impossible for
VB to understand the way in which mind, conscious or un-
conscious, can lift a table, make raps in wood, form a band
or a head, stamp an imprint. The modus operaridi is abso-
lutely unintelligible to us. Future science will perhaps dis-
cover it But all these actions never overpass the limits of
man's capacities, and let us admit, the capacity required
is not an extraordinary one.

The hypothesis of spirits of another order than that of
living human beings does not seem to be necessary.

The hypothesis of the doubling of the psychic personality
of the medium is the most simple. Is it sufficient to entirely
satisfy us i

Hard blows on the table like those of a fist, contrasting
with gentle taps, may have this origin, in spite of appear-
ance.

It is the same with apparitions of the bands, of heads, of
spectral forms. We cannot declare this origin of the phe-
nomena to be impossible; and it is more simple than to as-
sume that they are due to wandering spirits.

The conveying of objects over the heads of the experiment-
ers in complete darkness, without touching either chandelier
or heads, is scarcely comprehensible. But do we understand
any better how a spirit can have hands? And if it did,
might it not amuse itself thus ? Spectacles are taken from a
face without the act being perceived; a handkerchief is re-
moved from the neck, then snatched from between the teeth
that are holding it ; a fan is transferred from one pocket to
another. Do latent faculties of the human organism suf-

422 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

fice to explain these intentional actions ? It is right for us
neither to affirm nor to deny.

I have thus passed in review the whole series of pnenoment
to be explained, at least all those within the limits of the
plan of this work.

A first, and obviously safe, conclusion is that man has
in himself a fluidic and psychic force whose nature is still
unknown, but which is capable of acting at a distance upon
matter and of moving the same.

This force is the expression of our will, of our desires;
I mean as it appears in the first ten cases of the preceding
classifications. For the other cases we must add the uncon-
scious, the imforeseen, wills different from our conscious
wills.

The force is at once physical and psychical. If the me-
dium puts forth a force of twelve or fourteen pounds to lift
a table, his weight undergoes a corresponding increase. The
hand which we see forming near him is able to grasp an ob-
ject. The hand really exists, and is then reabsorbed. Might
we not compare the force which brings it into existence with
that buildiug^forcc of nature, which reproduces a claw for the
lobster and a tail for the lizard ? The intervention of spirits
is not all indispensable.*

* It is not indispensable, even in certain cases in which it seems to be
80. Let us take an example. At a stance in Genoa (1906), with Eu*
aapia, M. Youri^vieh, general secretary of the Psychological Institute of
Paris, besought the spirit of his father, who asserted that he was pres-
ent before him in ghostly form, to give him a proof of identity by
producing in the clay an impression of his hand, and above all of %
linger the nail of which was long and pointed. The request was made
in Russian, which the medium did not understand. Now this impres-
sion was sure enough obtained several months after, with the mark of
the nail referred to. Does this fact prove that the soul of the father
of the experimenter actually performed the act with his hand? No.
The medium received the mental suggestion for producing the pheno-
menon^ and did in fact produce it. The Russian language did not make
any difference. The suggestion was received. Besides, the hand wtf
mucli smaller than that of the man whose spirit was evoked.

The experimenter next asks his deceased father to give him his

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES i38

In medinmistic experiments things happen as if an invisi-
ble being were present, able to transport the different objects
through the air, usually without striking against the heads
of the persons who are sitting in various parts of the room in
almost complete darkness ; capable also of acting upon a cur-
tain like a strong wind, pushing it far out, able to fling this
enrtain over your head, giving you a Capuchin hood or
coiffure, and pressing strongly against your body, as if with
two nervous arms, and touching you with a warm and living
band. I have perceived these hands in the moat umnistak-
ble way. The invisible being can condense itself sufficiently
to become visible, and I have seen it passing in the air. To
suppose that I, as well as other experimenters, was the dnpe
of an hallucination is an hypothesis which cannot be main-
tained for a single moment and would simply show that those
who entertained the idea were far more likely to have an
hallucination than we were, or else that they entertained the
most inexcusable preposseeeion and prejudice. We were in
the best possible condition for observing and analysizing
any phenomena whatever and no sceptic will make us be-
lieve anything different on this point.

There is certainly an invisible prolongation of the organ-
ism of the medium. This prolongation may be compared to
the radiation which leaps from the loadstone to reach a bit
of iron and put it into movement.

We can also compare it with the effluviimi which emanates

from electrified bodies.*

btcMiitf, and be perceive* a hand which makea the aign of the eton be-
fore him (in the Buuian style, the three flngera together) upon the
forehead, Uis breast, and the two aidee. The same explanation is ap.
^iMble hen.

It wai a mistake to say that this gboat and bis son canrerted to-
tha Russian tongue, aa the published account said. H.

theae niTiterious pbei

*In certain countries (Canada, Colorado), a gas-jet can be lighted
by holding out the finger towaid it.

434 MTSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

I alw eon^arcd it aoiur- pages back to calorific waveo.

When a auediutii makca a gesture of atriking tbe taUe
with Iiu eloBed list, but :JU>ps short at a distance o{ from
nif^ to tWfltvc tnciies, and when, at ever; gesture, a sonorous
■tmke of the fist pchoi>» in tbe table, we see id that tbe proof
of a ^T^uunie prulon^tion of the arm of tbe medium.

Whan the pntandi to imitate CA my dndc tiw ntatka «f
Hm erank of a nlIlBio■bQ]^ and when diis box ket^ tive wiA
die imitated moTeoient, rtopa when the ftigan etoi^ pl^i
the tune factor when the finger aeee l tt a taa ila areular tiao-
ingi, goee dower iihea. it goei ilower, ete^ wa have hen apia
proof itf djuamia aetion at a diitanee.

When an aoeordion pUje of iti own wiH, wbea « heU le-
giiu to ring of itself, when a lever indioatea sodi and md
a preflsnre, there ia a real force in action.

We must therefore admit, first of all, this prolongation of
the muscular and nervoos force of the subject I am keenly
sensible of the fact that this is a bold proposition, almost in-
credible, most atrange and extraordinary; but after all the
facts are there, and whether the matter irks us or not is a
email matter.

This prolongation ia real, and onl; extends to a certain
distance from tbe medium, a distance which can be measured,
and which varies according to circumatancee. But is it suffi-
cient to explain all the observed phenomena !

We are forced to admit that this prolongation, usually in-
visible, and impalpable, may become visible and palpable;
take, especially, the form of an articulated band, with fleab
and muscles ; and reveal tbe exact form of a head or a body.
The fact is incomprehensible; but after so many different
observations, it seems to me impossible to see in this ourioiu
phenomenon only trickery or hallucination. Logic lays iti
laws upon us and commands our respect

A fluidic and condensable double has therefore the pover

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 425

of gliding momentarily out from the body of the medium (for
his presence is indispensable).

How can this double, this fluidic body have the consist-
ency of flesh and of muscles? We do not understand it.
But it would neither be wise nor intelligent to admit only
that which we can comprehend. It must be remembered
that, for the greater part of the time, we imagine we compre-
hend things because we can give an explanation of them ; that
is all. Now this explanation rarely has any intrinsic
value. It is only a framework of words tacked together.
Thus you fancy you understand why an apple falls from
the top of the tree, because you say that the earth attracts
it. This is pure simple-mindedness. For in what does
the attraction of the earth consist? You know nothing
about it ; but you are satisfied, because the fact is a common
one.

When the curtain is inflated as if pushed out by a hand,
and when you feel you are pinched in the shoulder by a hand
at the moment the curtain touches you, you have the impres-
sion that you are the dupe of an accomplice hidden behind
the curtain. There is some one there who is playing a prac-
tical joke on you. You draw aside the curtain. Nothing I

Since it is impossible for you to admit a trick of any kind,
because you, and you alone, hung that curtain between the
two walls ; and since you know that there is no person behind
it because you are close by it and have not lost it out of your
sight ; and since the medium is seated near you with his, or
her, hands and legs held, you are forced to admit that a tem-
porarily materialized being has touched you.

It is certain that these facts may be denied and that they
are denied. Those who have not personally verified them are
excusable. It is not a question of ordinary events which take
place every day and which everybody can observe. It is
evident, as a general proposition, that, if we admit only

4S« MTSTEBIOUS PSYOHIG F0B0E8

what we hmye oondves seen, we ehall not get imrj fur. We
admit the existence of the Philippine Islands wiAoot hsrisg
been there, of Charlemagne and of Jnlins Onsar without
having seen them, of total eclipses of the sm, vokanie en^-
tions, earthquakes, etc, as facts of whidi we have not <ro^
selves been eye-witnesses. The distance of a star, the weig^
of a planet, the composition of one of the heavenly bodke,
the most marvelous discoveries of a st ronomy, do not excits
scepticism, except in the minds of wholly uncultivated
persons, because people in general appreciate the value of
astronomic methods. But undoubtedly, in these psychicil
matters, the phenomena are so extraordinary that one is ei*
ousaUe for not believing theuL

Nevertheless, if anyone will give himsdf the trouble to
reason he will positively be compelled to recognize that, in
following on this trail; he is inevitably brought to a stand in
face of the following dilemma: either the experimenters
have been the dupes of the mediums, who have uniformly
cheated, or else these stupefying facts actually exist. Kow
since the first hypothesis is eliminated, we are forced to ad-
mit the reality of the occurrences.

A fluidic body is formed at the expense of the medium,
emerges from his organism, moves, acts. What is the in-
telligent force that directs this fluidic body and makes it act
in such or such a way ! Either it is the mind of the me-
dium, or it is another mind that makes use of this same fluid.
There is no escape from this conclusion. I may remark that
the meteorological conditions, flne weather, agreeable tem-
perature, cheerfulness, high spirits, favor the phenomena;
that the medium is never wholly out of touch with the mani-
festations, and frequently knows what is going to take place;
that the cause escapes the mental grasp and is fugitive and
capricious ; and that the apparitions fade away like a dream
as silently as they are formed.

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 427

ISote also that, in imporUnt manifestationa, the medium
sofferB, complains, groans, Iwes an enormous amount of
force, exhibits an astonishing nervous energy, experiences
hypersesthesia, and at the apogee of the manifestation, seems
for an instant to be absolutely prostrated. And, in truth,
why should not his mind as well as his fluidic force be haled
out of his body and be exhausted in external work? The
psychical force of a living human being is able, then, to
create " material " phenomena — organs, spectral figures.

But what is matter ?

Uy readers know that matter does not exist as it is per-
ceived by OUT senses. These only give us incomplete im-
pressions of an Unknown Reality. Analysis shows us that
matter is only a form of energy.

In the work called A Propoa d' Evaapia Paladino, which
Bums up his experiments with this medium, H. Quillaume
de Fontenay ingeniouBly tries to explain the phenomena by
the dynamic theory of matter. It is probable that this ex-
planation is one of those that make the nearest approach to
the truth.

According to this theory, the quality which seems to us
characteristic of matter — solidity, stability — is no more
substantial than the light which strikes our eyes, or the sound
which enters our ears. We see; that is to say, we receive
upon the retina rays which affect it. But around and on
every side of the retina undulate countless other rays that
leave no impression upon it. It is the same with the other

Hatter, like light, like heat, like electricity, seems to be
the result of a species of movement Movement of what!
Of the primitive monistic substance, quickened by manifold
vibrations.

Most assuredly, matter is not that inert thing that we com-
monly suppose.

vill bmk*

vin ptfli

:&xmarx r -xnm nm mL r£ vol h ^■vcmeHC it vill jno-
r:i"^ ^ ^:*- i.— -ir^ a-^mi-niK iitp? .t jm? mArfanL With

1*- ::r 1,— V- IT :..; > :r itfn. isf if igi^,-«c :ie 5teel pitting

T:->r * .::.:a-.-* t> i.I- t -nf "'- Tz?i;r5riz»£ be-'*' rutter is
^^i..'- -! - 1 "n. •;- : xi •-• c^ -0.7 ii f3rT«*5%?>:"ii of forte* i
t:^: -•*■"* ii r '»:r-r^ > -r-JI iisarceir < :: most be

xu - i_ X czi. Z':*i 1- m .T^eCf ▼^•i w;i5 reon^ *s the

^ MA

- T" i... V r. ~^^ z t: >*c»?:i" '>"r? Trii4 I ^re sftid t him-

7":^ i.S.-'iI'j -r^- iir« i^ f^rLiizizd: ro -xirsehTe!? tpptri-
t: ii>. z:a>r.iJ_ni~:ii'^ ■«'i»r7i t« rrr r: Apply to them the
•:?•: zj,-- .--.'*-■;- :i : r_d— ■??. i? o*:c5:-5er*b»y lessened the
r:«.cr:z: t- ... :i.>. i.-; -^j- na-'fr 5> 'c!v * o^^ie of motioo.

-^T .:>:^*. r'r.zi :-jf zL'.rf: rz :ln«?::*jirj «3 np to the iii«>?t

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 429

complicated oi^anism, is a special kind of movement, a move-
ment determined and organized by a directing force. Ac-
cording to this theory, momentary apparitions would be
less difficult to accept and to comprehend. The vital force
of the medium might externalize itself and produce in a
point of space a vibratory system which should be the counter-
part of itself, in a more or less advanced degree of visibility
and solidity. These phenomena can with difficulty be
reconciled with the old hypothesis of the independent and
intrinsic existence of matter : They better fit that of matter
as a mode of motion — in a word, simple movement, giving
the sensation of matter.

There is, of course, only one substance, the primitive sub-
stance, which antedates the original nebula — the womb
from which all bodies in the universe have issued. The sub-
stances which the chemists take to be simple bodies — oxygen,
hydrogen, azote, iron, gold, silver, etc. — are mineral ele-
ments which have been gradually formed and differentiated,
just as, later, the vegetable and animal species were differ-
entiated. And not only is the substance of the world one,
but it also has the same origin as energy, and these two forms
are mutually interchangeable. Nothing is lost, nothing is
created, everything is transformed.*

The unique substance is immaterial and unknowable in its

essence. We see and touch only its condensations, its aggre-
gations, its arrangements ; that is to say, forms produced by

movement. Matter, force, life, thought, are all one.

In reality, there is only one principle in the universe, and

it is at once intelligence, force, and matter, embracing all

that is and all that possibly can be. That which we call

matter is only a form of motion. At the basis of all is force,

dynamism, and universal mind, or spirit.

* See what I formerly wrote on this subject in Lumen, in Uranie, in
Stella, and in my Discoura aur VuniU de force ei Vuniti de aubttanect
published in VAnnuaire du Co8mo$, for 1865.

480 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIO FORCES

Visible matter^ which stands to us at the present moment
for the universe, and which certain classic doctrines consider
as the origin of all things — movement^ life, thou^t — ia
only a word void of meaning. The universe is a great oigtn-
ism controlled by a dynamism of the psychical order. Mind
gleams through its every atom.

The environment or atmosphere is psychic. There is
mind in every thing, not only in human and animal life, but
in plants, in minerals, in space.

It is not the body which produces life: it is rather life
which organizes the body. Does not the will to live increase
the viability of enfeebled persons, just as the giving up of
the wish to live may abridge life and even extinguish it t

Your heart beats, night and day, whatever be the position
of your body. It is a well-mounted spring. Who or what
adjusted this elastic spring?

The embryo is formed in the womb of the mother, in the
egg of the bird. There is neither heart nor brain. At a
certain moment the heart beats for the first time. Sublime
moment ! It will beat in the child, in the adolescent, in the
man, in the woman, at the rate of about 100,000 pulsations
a day, of 30,500,000 a year, of 1,825,000,000 in fifty
years. This heart that has just been formed is going to
beat a thousand millions of pulsations, two thousand millions,
three thousand millions, a number determined by its in-
herent force; then it will stop and the body will fall into
ruins. Who or what wound up this watch once for all?

Dynamism, the vital energy.

What sustains the earth in space?

DvTiamisni, the velocity of its movement.

What is it in the bullet that kills ?

Its velocity.

Everywhere energy, everywhere the invisible element. It
is this same dynamism that produces the phenomena we have

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 431

been studying. The qaestion at present resolves itself into
this: Does this dynamiBin beloog wholly to the experi-
mentera ? We have so little real knowledge of our mental
nature that it is impoesible for us to know what this nature
18 capable of producing, even in certain states of unconscious-
ness — in fact especially in these. The directing intelli-
gence is not always the personal, normal, intelligence of the
experimenters or of any one whatever among them. We ask
the entity what its name is, and it gives ns a name which is
not ours; it replies to our questions, and usually claims to
be a discamate soul, the spirit of a deceased person. But
if we drive the question home, this entity finally steals away
without having given us sufficient proofs of its identity.
There results from this the impression that the " medimn,"
or principal subject of the experiment, has responded for
himself, has reflected himself, without knowing it.

Moreover, this entity, this personality, this spirit, has his
individual will, bis caprices, his cantankeronsncss, and some-
times acts in opposition to our own thoughts. He tells us
absurd, foolish, brutal, insane things, and amuses himself
with fantastic combinations of letters, real head-splitting
puzzles. It astonishes and stupefies us.

What is this being f

Two inescapable hypotheses present themselves. Either
it is we who produce these phenomena or it is spirits. But
mark this well : these spirits are not necessarily the souls of
the dead ; for other kinds of spiritual beings may exist, and
space may be full of them without our ever knowing any-
thing about it, except under unusual circumstances. Do wc
not find in the different ancient literatures, demons, angets,
gnomes, goblins, sprites, spectres, elementals, etc? Perhaps
these legends are not without some foundation in fact
Then we cannot but remark that, in our mediumistic studies
and experiments, in order to succeed we always address an

4M MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC

IC FORCES J

iBTuilile haag who u mp paaai «o 1
fflndon, it <UtM haai the my «>ism of Spirit— B—, friB
tiM T^n prodtuad nMonnoiiify I? ^ ^fl« nitan im lUr
diunben at HydefriUa and at Boduatw in 1848. Brt«n
Bora, diia pawmifle«ti«a m^ pertain to oar own fcaqg cr it
iB»y luprBMnt a mind mrtemal to opiadwa.

In ordor to admit the lint l^ypotbana m matt admit rt
tin lama time that oar meotal natofa it not Bin^fe, that Am
are in HI Mreral pi^diie doB^ti, and that one at laart <l
thate demonti nu^ aot unknown to onnelTea, make lufa in a
table, mote any pieoe of fnmitnre^ lift a mi^it^ tooA m
vith a band Aat aeema real, phqr an inatn u neat^ oeats a
apeetnd figon, read bidden worda, aniwer qnaBtiaH^ Mt with
a personal will — and all this, I repeat, wiAont oor own
knowled^

This is tolerably complicated ; but it is not impossible.

That there are ia us psjcbie elements, obscure, onotni-
Bcioua, capable of acting outside of the sphere of our nonnal
cossciouaness, this is something we can notice every ni^t b
our dreams ; that is to say, during a quarter, or a third part
of our life. Scarcely has sleep closed our eyes, our ears, all
our senses, than our thoughts begin to work just the same la
during the day, though without rational direction, without
logic, under the most incoherent forms, freed from our custo-
mary conceptions of space and time, in a world entirely
different from the normal world. The physioto^sts and
psychologists have for centuries been trying to determine the
mechanism of the dream without having yet obtained anj
satisfactory solution of the problem. But the proved fact
that we see sometimes, in our dreams, occurrences which
take place at a distance, proves that we have in us nnknown
powers.

Again, it is not rare for each of us to experience, sometimes
(all our faculties being on the alert), the play of an interioi

EXPLANATORT HYPOTHESES 438

power, distinct from our dominant reason. We are on the
point of pronouncing words that are not a part of our habit-
ual vocabulary, and ideas suddenly traverse and arrest the
course of our thoughts. During the reading of a book which
seemed interesting to us, our soul spreads her winga and flies
to other realms, while our eyea continue in vain the mechani-
cal act of reading. We are discussing certain projects in our
mind, as if we were so many judges; and then, one would like
to know in all simplicity, whence comes this distraction!

In his tireless researches, the great investigator of psychic
phenomena, Myers, to whom we owe synthetic studies upon
the subliminal consciousness, reached the conviction, with
Bihot, that " the me is a coordination."

These supernormal phenomena (writes this competent and
learned inquirer) are due not to the action of the spirits of
deceased persons, as Wallace believes, but, for the most part,
to the action of an incarnate spirit, either that of the sub-
ject himself or of some agent or other.*

The word " subliminal " means what is beneath the thresh-
old {limen) of the consciousness, — the sensations, the
thoughts, the memories, which remain at the bottom, and
seem to represent a kind of sleeping me. I do not pretend
to affirm (adds the author) that there always exists in ub two
me's correlative and parallel: I denote rather by the sub-
liminal me that part of the me which ordinarily remains
latent, and I admit that there may be not merely co-oper-
ation between these two quasi-independent currents of
thoughts, but also changes of level and alternations of per-
sonality.f Medical observation (Felida, Alma) proves that
there is in us a rudimentary supernormal faculty, something
which is probably useless to us, but which indicates the exist-
ence, beneath the level of our consciousness, of a reserve of
latent unsuspected faculties.:^

What is it that is active in us in telepathic phenomena?

'The HwnuK PertoMlity, p. 11.
t/d., p. 23.
tia., p. 63.

434 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

We may recall the case of Thomas Garrison {Society far
Psychical Research, VIII, p. 125) who, while sitting with
his wife at a religious service, suddenly gets up in the middle
of the sermon, goes out of the church, and, as if impelled by
an irresistible impulse, walks twenty miles afoot to go to see
his mother^ whom he finds dead on his arrival, although he
did not know that she was ill and although she was relatively
young (fifty-eight years). I have a hundred observations
similar to this in writing before me. It is not our normal
habitual natiire that is in action in such a case as this.

There is probably in us, more or less sentient, a 8ul>con-
Bcious nature, and it is this which seems to be at work in
mediumistic experiences. I am pretty much of the opinion
Myers expresses in the following paragraph : *

Spiritualists attribute the movement and the dictations at
their seances to the action of disembodied intelligences. But
if a table execute movements without being touched, there
is no reason to attribute these movements to the intervention
of my deceased grandfather, rather than to my own proper
intervention; for if 1 do not see how I could have done it
myself, it is not clear to me how the effect could have been
produced by the action of my grandfather. As for dicta-
tions, the most plausible explanation seems to me to be for
lis to admit that they do not come from the conscious me,
but from that profound and hidden region where fragmen-
tary and incoherent dreams are elaborated.

This (explanatory hj'pothesis is held, with an important
modification, by a distinguished savant to whom also we owe
long and patient researches into the obscure phenomena of
normal psychology ; I mean Dr. Geley, who thus sums up his
o^vn conclusions:

A certain amount of the force, intelligence, and matter
of the body may perform work outside of the organism,—

* The Human Personality, p. 313.

EXPIAITATOET HYPOTHESES 435

ac^ perceive, oiganize, and think without the collaboration
of muacles, oi^ns, senses and brain. It is nothing leas
than the uplifted aub-conscious portion of our being. It
constitutes, in truth, an exteroalizable sab-conscious nature,
existing in the me with the normal conscious nature.*

This sub-conscious nature docs not seem to depend upon the
organism. It is probablj anterior to it, and will survive it.
It seems to be superior to it, endowed with powers and ac-
quirements vei7 different from the powers and acquirements
c^ the normal, supernormal, and transcendent consciousness.

Assuredly, there ia in this view of the case more than one
mystery still, were it only the feat of performing a material
act at a distance, and that (not less strange) of apparently
having nothing to do with that kind of an act.

The first rule of the scientific method is first to seek expla-
nations in the knomi before having recourse to the unknown,
and we should never fail to comply with this rule. But if
this method of sailing does not bring us to port, it is our duty
to confess it.

I very much fear that that is what is the matter here. We
are not satisfied. The explanation is not clear, and is float-
ing a little too much at random in the waves — and the wav-
ering uncertainty — of the hypothesis.

At the point at which we have now arrived in this chapter
of explanations we are precisely in the position of Alexander
Aksakof when he wrote his great work, Animism and Spirit-
ualism, in reply to the book of Dr. von Hartmann on Spirit-
ualism. Hartman claimed to explain all of these psychical
phenomena by the following hypothesis.

A nervous force producing, outside of the limits of the
human body, mechanical and plastic effects.

Duplicate hallucinations of this same nervous force, and
producing also physical and plastic effects.

'The Subeonacioui Nature, p. 82.

TSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

soULQambulistic consciousneaej capable (the s
(~.>.^ in hla norroal state) of reading in the intellectuiL
ound of another man, his present and his past, uA
^ able to divine tbc future.

Vkeskof tried to spe if these hvpotheses (the last of v)nA
pretty bold one) are sufficient to explain everything, ud
cuneUidos that they are not. Thai is also my opinion.
•re is Ewinething fe.s. )methiag else, this residne

,he bottom of tlie cri Lperiment, is a psychic ele-

it, the nature of w b still wholly hidden from

I think that all me i. [>f this book will share m;

ictiou.

jitbropomorphic are far from explaining

trytbing. Besides, mey are r hypotheses. We must not

Hide from onrsielves that these pbenomena introduce us into

another world, into an unknown world, one that is still to

be explored in its whole extent.

As to beings different from ouraelves, — what may tluir
nature be ^ Of this we cannot form any idea. Souls of the
dead ? This is very far from being demonstrated. TIk in-
numerable observations which I have collected during more
than forty years all prove to me the contrary. No satisfac-
tory identification has been made.*

The commimications obtained have always seemed to pro-
ceed from the mentality of the group, or, when they are
heterogeneous, from spirits of an incomprehensible nature.
The being evoked soon vanishes when one insists on pushing
him to the wall and having the heart out of his mystery.
And then my greatest hope has been deceived, that hope of
my twentieth year, when I would so gladly have received
celestial light upon the doctrine of the plurality of worlds.
The spirits have taught us nothing.

'Bee m; remai-ks in The Unknown, pp. 2S0-2M.

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 437

Nevertheless, the agents seem sometimes to be independent.
Crookes mentions having seen Miss Fox write automatically
a communication for one of her sitters while another com-
munication upon another subject was given to her for a
second person l>y means of the alphabet and by raps, and
all the while she was chatting with a third person upon an-
other subject totally different from the other two. Does this
remarkable fact prove with certainty the action of a spirit
other than that of the medium ?

The same scientist mentions that^ during one of his seances,
a little rod crossed the table, in full light, and came and
rapped his hand, giving him a communication by following
the letters of the alphabet spelled out by hinu The other
end of the rod rested on the table at a certain distance from
the hand of the medium Home.

This case seems to me^ as well as to Crookes, more con-
clusively in favor of an exterior spirit, so much the more
since the experimenter having asked that the raps be given by
the Morse telegraphic code, another message was thus rapped
out. I also remember that the learned chemist mentions that
the word " however " hidden by his finger, upon a news-
paper, and unknown even to himself, was rapped out by a
little rod.

Wallace also mentions a name written upon a piece of
paper fastened by him under the central leg of the experi-
ment table ; Jonci^res, a water-color correctly painted in com-
plete darkness, and a musical theme written with a pencil;
M. Castex Degrange, the announcement of a death, and the
place where a lost object might be found. We have also seen
sentences dictated either backwards or in such a way that
every other letter only must be read to get the sense, or else
by strange combinations showing the action of an unknown
intellect. We have a thousand examples of this kind.

But if the mind of the medium may liberate itself and

rSTERIOUS PSTCmC FORCES
wg ^ a» cxtjasKKinal aute, vby nugbt it not be tku
J ahiifc Mt» t Do we not hvn seren) distiiuA penos-
mt m av 4i«aa* t If tlK7 ooold dyna m i oU y ■fpesr,

Jl tb^ ■« Ml smevbAt in thu w»t if

V*«afhwttoln«si^af tbe&etthat these pbeaoaieu
oC a nizerf cbuaetO'. Tber ■» at once pfajncal ud
Ueal, materal end ntaUertnal, are not ahrays prodnced

mt aaaaaw will, tmi — — her the subject of obwrro-

't ii aipafiaH t» iBMt on thW dtaraeterisde. I one i»j,

maagj Xl, 1901) hand ndjiax, member of the b-

BMv 4u«cMr «f tka Insutute, exptees the fot

■BonhBeJalnCaaidea Ibv wmany phTsidsts ud

t MMiy fk^nia). in a aoaf ' wfakfa was yet quite com-

prtnt tv diaraM these plvBomeDA : "' There is no scientisc

tmtt cxcapC s bd sfai^ cam be reprodiKed at will." * WhU

a stngalar naaoaag! The witneaa cn of the fall of a meteor

Winp tts an aeniGte which has jost &Uai inxa the aky and

lie«i do; sp, all hot, from the hole it bad made in the

pound. " Ettot ' ilhtsion ' " we oogfat to repl; : " We ahall

odIt beliere when too repeal the ezperimenL"

TVt brii^ to OS the bodj of a man hilled by a stids of
Usrbtnin^. stripped of bis etothes, and diaved as if with •
nsar. " ImpcauUe! ** we oo^t to leply; " pure ioTBitioii
of TOOT delnded senses." A woman sees appear befbte her,
bpr bnsbaihl, who has jost died neatly two tfaoosand miks
awar. We aw asked to beliere that this is not so, and will
BOt be 90 tutil the apparition appears a second time.

This coofnsjon between ofaaerTation and experimoit is a
very strange thing as eoming from mhinted men.

In p^vducal phpnomena thoe is a voltiataiy, eapridoss,
incoherent, intelteetaal elonoit.

I repeat, we most team to osaiprdiend that ereiythii^

■ Sm Satkta If at fijililij lJ tmtitmt*, Td. X. pp. KS-tOL

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 439

cannot be explained and resign oonelTes to waiting for an
eztension of our knowledge. There is intelligence, thought,
psychiBm, mind, in these phenomena. There is still more in
certain communications. Can the observations be confirmed
and justified hj assuming the mind of the living merely aa
the active agents 1 Yes, perhaps, bat only by attributing
to us unknown and supernormal faculties. Yet it must be
remembered that this is only an hypothesis. The Spiritual-
istic hypothesis of communication with the souls of the dead
remains also as a working hypothesis.

That soqIs survive the destruction of the body I have not
the shadow of a doubt. But that they manifest themselves
by the processes employed in seances the experimental method
has not yet given us absolute proof. I add that this hypothe-
sis is not at all likely. If the souls of the dead are about us,
upon our planet, the invisible population would increase at
the rate of 100,000 a day, about 36 millions a year, 3 bil-
lions 620 millions a century, 36 billions in ten centuries,
etc., — unless we admit re-incarnations upon the earth itself.

How many times do apparitions, or manifestations occur T
When illusions, auto-su^estions, hallucinations, are elimi-
nated, what remains! Scarcely anything. Such an excep-
tional rarity as this pleads against the reality of apparitions.

We may suppose, it is true, that all human beings do not
Borrive their death, and that, in general, their psychical en-
tity is so insignificant, so wavering, so ineffectual, that it
. almost disappears in the ether, in the common reservoir, in
the environment, like the souls of animals. But thinking
beings who have the consciousness of their psychical existence
do not lose their personality, but continue the cycle of their
evolution. It would seem natural therefore to see them
manifest themselves under certain circumstances. Persons
condemned to death, in consequence of judicial errors, and
executed, should they not return to protest their innocence I

nrsiEaiocs psychic forces

■U ft aM le RaHBable to lappoee Uwt pereooE pat to death
wmk * Of Atf nileBs «i« noC saq»eet«l would remrn
' amtam As ^Hanst Eb««^ the du«rten of BobsA-
■a^ W Bm< f Ml, «f IW^ikiTMiiak, I should like to
■ m tittle on thoee who tri-
» «t *Ml, aboaM tbey not have
k tte deep «f the ecBqaenns f Out of tlie
f^mmmi iiTibm ifal fnlhdes doriiig the tuoe
Cha^iw «f Km I ifc d fibs to Imto seen ■ doien
■^ boM^B th* HoL H. TVin, who vsa retll;
■v^ his kiTing fint pe^
iHMBRctioo and theo pirn-
rift.

«Vr 4» Mk cAiNmb vfcM iMth u Umented br their
fwcMB mr tamt to i iiiiik &«>! Whj do oar deuot
aBKfaii«t&<^ wes w i&apfvar £mm- ! And bow about last
«il&» 4:i«i AKCuiema scolia b**?".- *^ ^ Is^t will of the dead
^pt»«u «bX t^nr iatemciow prnpoedy nuamtEXpieted ?

" ti » rittlr ;be ii»i that ifo aot wtam," emjt cb old pnr-
ciK Tla^ i[ihai ai is an* of abeohite applicatioa, perliapa ;
Wg ap^arizwttf u« rai«, Tcn we, ainl we do not anderstasd
Anr 0CKBW ttamvL Aiv ibn- aental ^ifiazitians of the
4Mi i It » w< TK dnaeastraced.

Tp Bff &^ ^T, I haiv soo^hk in Tain for wrtain proof of
|«»m^ MAia^T ibrtTgh Bedioaustie ecanmnaieatioaa;.
JLwE ^n oopf Jkvs aot s«r wb«- sprits, if tbej exist anHmd
IK. ^m:^ bive »ev%i of nedia^ at all. in orAer to manifest
An»<>K:vw^ TVj fSKflT BiiEt fra a part of natoie^ of the
aatwrs&I aaTx» whxh taetades all tiling

N«vifn^f&ees. it jwss to aie that the ^liritiialistie hypothe-
9ft» s^-«U W pret!«KW«l h^ the saaie right as tbaae I hare
-taaiiTur f vp ia die im^ediaxelT pceeediag pages, for the dis-
ciwsK«f kiT<e at,<c riuuaated it.*

I Mv«a

EXPLANATOEY HYPOTHESES ^41

But wbj are there manifestations the result of the group-
ing of five or six persons around the table? That this
ehoiild be a $ine qua non is not a very likely thing either.

It tnaj be, it is true, that spirits exist around us, and
that it is normaltj impossible for them to make themselves
visible, audible, or tangible, not being able to reflect rays of
light accessible to our retina, or to produce sonorous waves,
or to effect touches. Therefore, certain conditions present
in mediums might be necessary for their manifestation. No-
body has the right to deny this. But why so many puzzling
incoherences and solecisms I

I have on a bookshelf before me several thousand communi-
cations dictated by " spirits." In the last analysis, a dim
obscurity remains hanging over the causes. Unknown psy-
chic forces : fugitive entities ; vanishing figures ; nothing solid
to grasp, even for the thought. These things do not yield us
the consistency of a definition of chemistry or of a theorem
in geometry. A molecule of hydrogen is a granite cliff in
comparison.

The greater part of the phenomena observed, — noises,
movement of tables, confusions, disturbances, raps, replies to
questions asked, — are really childish, puerile, vulgar, often
ridiculous, and rather resemble the pranks of mischievous
boys than serious bona-fide actions. It is impossible not to
notice this.

Why should the souls of the dead amuse themselves in this
way? The supposition seems almost absurd.

We know that an ordinary man does not change his intel-
lectual or moral value from day to day, and, if his spirit con-
plead in its favor than otherwiie (Bulletin of the Boeiety for PaycMoal
Btiidiet of Jian<!y, NoT.-Dec., 1900). Out of the eleren iiiHtAiicM man-
tioned, tbe Brat and ttie second may have been taken from a. cyclopedia,
the third and the fourth from public joumala; but, in the case of the
aeven others, the admisaion of the identity of apparitiona with the
originals they purported to represent ia eurely thQ beat ezplanatorf
bjpotheaiH.

44t inrSTBBIOnB FB70HI0 lOBGES
Unvm to ioiit altar iha dattk of Us bodj, «e maj caqnet it
find it radi m it mm hefom. But whj m> maa^ odditia ai
inoohenDaait

Howcrfer dMM tliiagi ai^y ba^ it hahocwei na not to btra
any pneonoriTed idea, and onr iMMttdea Attj ia to aeA to
pioTa dw iaeti aa tfaqr pnaant dMaoadna to na,

Tbe unknown natmral finoa bzon^it into pb^ for tibe fifk-
inf of a taUe ii not tlw eiebiaiTe p ro p e rty of "»*■<'""» Ik
diffarent dagreta it foxma a part of all otguamaa, with dif
fsrent coaffleianta, 100 for oxganiama radi aa tinaa o£ Hbmi^
or Eniqna, 80 foor othan, 50 or 85 for laaa fimmd iadiiid-
nala. Bat I ahoold kdd it aa ovtain Aat itnamdroyaia
tmj oaae to 0. Tbo bett proof of Oia ia tha^ viUt pari— t
peiaaverane^ and the eier ei w of the wiU, almoet all A*
gnrapa of ezperimenters who have aerunuly oocapied theni-
Belvea with these researches have succeeded in obtaining, oot
merely moTements, but also complete levitatioos, raps, and
other phenomena.

The word " medium " scarcely has any longer a reaaon for
being, since the existence of an intermediary between tbe
spirits and us is not yet proved. But still the word may be
preserved, logic being the rarest of things in grammar and in
everything else that is human. The word " electricity " has
had no connection for a long time with amber (^Xurpor),
nor the word " veneration " with the genitive case of Venus
(Veneris), nor tbe (at first astrological) term "disaster"
with aster (star), nor the word " tragedy " with goal-«mg
(rpAyot, ^). But this does not hinder these words fnm
being understood in their habitual sense.*

*At K forMtKlliug of Jadgmcnt on what U yet to tw demoiutntad,
th« word " nwdium " is ■ whollj Improper term. It takes it for gr ai i t ri
thkt the person mdowvd with theM Bupra-norm*! ptjrchfc facidtlM U
mn intermediar; tietwecB the spiriti and the experimentera. Now while
we ma; admit that thia ii oometimea the eaae, it ia certainly not alwap

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 443

Ab TOBpects explanatoi7 hypotbesee, I repeat, the field is
open to alL It is to be noted that communications dictated
are closely related to the condition of mind, the ideas, the
opinions, the beliefs, the knowledge, and even the literary
culture, of the experimenters. They are like a reflection,
or counterpart, of this ensemble of ideas and faculties.
Compare the communicatioiiB noted down in the house of
Victor Hugo in Jersey, those of the Phalaneterian Society
of Engine Nus, those of astronomical meetings, those of re-
ligious believers, — Catholics, Protestants, etc.

If the hypothesis were not so bold as to seem unacceptable
to us, I should dare to think that the concentration of the
thoughts of psychic experimenters creates a momentary in-
tellectual being who replies to the questions asked and then
vanisbes.

Be/lection, reflex aetionf That is perhaps the true ex-
pression. Everybody has seen bis image reflected in a mir-
ror, and nobody is astonished 1^ it. However, analyse the
thing. The more you look at this optical being moving there
behind the mirror, the more remarkable the image appears
to you. Now suppose lookingglasses had not been in-
vented. If we had not knowledge of those immense mir-

■o. The rotation of » table, its tipping, iU leritation, the dispUcemrat
of ft piece of furniture, the inflation of a curtain, noiseH heard — all
ftftt OMued by » force emanating from Uiia protagonist of the com-
pany, or from their collective powers. We cannot really HUppose that
there is always a spirit preeent ready to respond to our fancies. And
th« hypothesis is so much the less necessary since the pretended spirits
do nvt impart any new facts to us. For trie greater part of the time,
it is undoubtedly our own psychic force that is acting. The chief per-
sonage and principal actor in these experiments would be mote ac-
curately called a dynomo^en, since he (or she) creates force. It seems
to me that this would be the best term to apply in this case. It ex-
pressea that which is proved by all the obBerrationa.

I have known mediums very proud of their title, and sometimes found
tbem a bit jealous of their fellows. They were convinced that they had
been chosen by Saint Augustine, Saint Paul, and even Jesus ^rist.
They believed in the grace of the Most High and claimed (not without
reason too) that, coming from other hands, these signatures were to
be suspected. There is no sense in thew rivalries.

^44 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

rors which reflect whole apartments and the visitors in them,
if we had never seen anything of the kind, and if someone
should tell us that images and reflections of living persons
could thus manifest themselves and thus move, we should not
comprehend) and should not believe it

Yes, the ephemeral personification created in Spiritual-
istic stances sometimes recalls the image that we see in a
mirror, which has nothing real in itself, but which yet ex-
ists and reproduces the original. The image fixed by the pho-
tograph is of the same kind, only durable. The potential
image formed at the focus of the mirror of a telescope, in-
visible in itself but which we can receive on a level mi^
ror and study, at the same time enlarging it by the micro-
scope of the eye-piece, perhaps approaches nearer to that
which seems to be produced by the concentration of the psy-
chical energy of a group of persons. We create an imaginary
being, we speak to it, and in its replies it almost always re-
flects the mentality of the experimenters. And just as with
the aid of mirrors we can concentrate light, heat, ether-waves,
electric waves, in a focus, so, in the same way, it seems some-
times as if the sitters added their psychic forces to those of
the medium, of the dynamogen, condensing the waves, and
helping to produce a sort of fugitive being more or less ma-
terial.

The sub-conscions nature, the brain of the medium, or his
astral body, the fluidic mind, the unknown powers latent in
sensitive organisms, might we not consider these as the mirror
which we have just imagined ? And might this mirror also
not receive and reproduce impressions, or influence, from a
soul at a distance?

But we must not generalize partial conclusions which we
have already had much trouble in defining.

I do not say that spirits do not exist : on the contrary, I
have reasons for admitting their existence. Even certain

EXPLANATOEY HYPOTHESES 446

sensations expressed by the animals^ — by dogs, by cats, by
horseSy — plead in favor of the unexpected and impressive
presence of invisible beings or agents. But, as a faithful
servant of the experimental method, I think that we ought to
exhaust all the simple, natural hypotheses, already known,
before having recourse to others.

Unfortunately, a large number of Spiritualists prefer not
to go to the bottom of things, or analyse anything, but to be
the dupes of nervous impressions. They resemble certain
worthy women who tell their beads while believing that they
have before them Saint Agnes or Saint Filomena. There
is no harm in that, says some one. But it is an illusion.
Let us not be its dupes.

If the elementals, the elementaires, the spirits of the air,
the gnomes, the spectres of which Goethe speaks (following
Paracelsus in this), exist, they are natural and not super-
natural. They are in nature, for nature includes all things.
The supernatural does not exist. It is then the duly of sci-
ence to study this question as it studies all others.

As I have already remarked, there are in these different
phenomena several causes in action. Among these causes the
ones that supposes the action to proceed from disembodied
spirits, the souls of the dead, is a plausible hypothesis which
ought not to be rejected without examination. It seems
sometimes to be the most logical ; but there are weighty ob-
jections to it, and it is of the highest importance to be able
to demonstrate it with certainty. Its partisans ought to he
the first to approve the severity of the scientific methods
which we apply in our studies of the phenomena, for Spirit-
ualism will receive thereby so much the more solid a found-
ation and will have so much the more value. The illusions
and the artless faith of simple souls cannot give it any more
solid and substantial basis. The religion of the future will
be the religion of science. There is only one kind of truth.

XT*

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EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 447

more advanced the day after death than the day before?
Why should death bestow upon them any perfection i Why
should it make a genius out of an imbecile ? How could it
make a good man out of a bad one? Why should it turn
an ignoramus into a wise man ? How could it make a shin-
ing light out of an intellectual nobody ?

These unconscious souls^ — that is to say, the multitude, —
do they not disappear at death into the surrounding ether,
and do they not constitute a kind of psychic atmosphere, in
which a subtle analysis can discover spiritual as well as ma-
terial elements? If the psychic force performs an action
in the existing order of things, it is as worthy of consideration
as the different forms of energy in operation in the ether.

Without, then, admitting the existence of spirits to be dem-
onstrated by the phenomena, we feel that these do not all
belong to a simply material order, — physiological, organic,
cerebral, — but that there is something else involved, some-
thing else inexplicable in the actual state of our knowledge.

But a something else of the psychical order. Perhaps we
shall be able to go a little farther, some day, in our inde-
pendent impartial researches, guided by the experimental
scientific method, denying nothing in advance, but admitting
whatever is proved by sufficient observation.

To sum up : In the actual staie of our knowledge it is im-
possible to give a complete, total, absolute, final explanation
of the observed phenomena. The Spiritualistic hypothesis
ought not to be dismissed. Still, we may admit the survival
of the soul without necessarily admitting a physical commu-
nication between the dead and the living. But then all the
observed facts leading up to the affirmation of this communi-
cation are worthy of the most serious attention of the philoso-
pher.

One of the chief difficulties in the way of these communi-

448 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

cations seems to be the condition itself of the soul freed
from bodily senses. It would have other ways of perceiving.
It would not soe, hear, touch. How then can it enter into re-
lation with our senses ?

There is a whole problem in that which is not to be neg-
lected in the study of any psychical manifestations whatever.

We take our ideas to be realities. This is a mistake. For
example^ to our senses the air is not a solid body; we pass
through it without effort^ while we cannot pass through an
iron door. The converse is true of electricity: it passes
through iron^ and finds the air to be a solid impassible body.
To the electrician^ a wire is a canal leading electricity acron
the solid rock of the air. Glass is opaque to electricity and
transparent to magnetism. The flesh is transparent to die
X-rays, while glass is opaque, etc.

We feel the need of explaining everything, and we are
driven to admit only the phenomena of which we have had an
explanation; but that does not prove that our explanations
are valid. Thus for example, if some one had affirmed the
possibility of instantaneous communication between Paris
and London, before the invention of the telegraph, people
would have regarded the assertion as Utopian. Later it would
not have been admitted, except on condition of the existence
of a wire between the two stations, and any communication
without the medium of an electric wire would have been
declared impossible. Now that we have wireless telegraphy
we can apply this discovery to the explanation of the phenom-
ena of telepathy. But it is not yet proved that this explana-
tion is the true one.

Wliy do we wish to explain these phenomena at all hazards!
Because we naively imagine that we are able to do so in the
present state of our knowledge.

The physiologists who claim to see daylight in this mat-
ter are like Ptolemy persisting in accounting for the move-

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 449

xnents of the heavenly bodies by holding to the idea of the
immobility of the earth ; or Oalileo explaining the attraction
of amber by the rarefaction of the surrounding air; or La-
voisier seeking (with the common people) the origin of
aerolites in thunder storms or denying their existence; or
Ghdvani, who saw in his frogs a special organic electricity.
I put my physiologists in good company^ surely, and they
have nothing of which to complain. But who does not feel
that this natural propensity to explain everything is not jus-
tified, that science progresses from age to age, that what is not
known to-day will be known later, and that we ought some-
times to know how to wait ?

The phenomena of which we are speaking are manifesta-
tions of the universal dynamism, with which our five senses
put us very imperfectly in relation. We live in the midst
of an unexplored world, in which the psychical forces play a
r61e still very insuflSciently investigated.

These forces are of a class superior to the forces usually
analyzed in mechanics, in physics, in chemistry : they are of
the psychical order, have in them something vital and a
kind of mentality. They confirm what we know from other
sources, — that the purely mechanical explanation of nature
is insufficient and that there is in the universe something else
than so-called matter. It is not matter that rules the world :
it is a dynamic and psychic element.

What light will the study of these still unexplained forces
shed upon the origin of the soul and upon the conditions of its
survival ? That is something that the future has to teach us.

The truth that the soul is a spiritual entity distinct from
the body is proved by other arguments. These arguments are
not made for the purpose of injuring this doctrine ; but while
confirming it and while putting in clear light the applica-
tion of psychic forces, they still do not solve the great prob-
lem by the material proofs that we should like to have.

4M UTSTEBIOnB P870BI0 XOItOBS

Bmnvar, if tlw ttaij of tbaw ph en w i hu aat yet
THlded tU thsfc ii cUwd for h. aor aH tfc>t it win IB tti
fntiize jidd, ira itill enaot 1m^ noogafaiiig Alt U hat
■idaiably aokigBd tha qphan of p^yAology , ni ibM.% tba
kBovladgB of Uw satim of ^ ml and «f iti tmeaiiim im
ban ooflB for all aapanded vmStt g^aaiar and daepcr tkiM
and wider horiimw.

Tbnaii in naton, e^adallj ia tba doaMia of life^ inthB
imnifnititTwi of ^ " ■' i 'M' ^ ' ia W MWila h lni ti"^ fMw^W in tti
CBoeral Knil of thiop^ in banaaify, in tfaa eoMaie vaa
a piTdiie akoDent wiSA appmn noie and mom ia waitm
■tndiea, mpedaSj in iMeMwhai ia tJepalhy, and la tba ib
■ervatioat of Ae oneiplaiaad phicaMna wld^ we ban
stot^iag in thii book. Tbii alemen^ tbia prinopk^ is itiH
unknown to contemponry sdenee. But, as in so many oAff
coBcs, it was divined by the ancients.

Besides the four elements fire, water, air and earth, tba
ancients admitted a fifth, belonging to the material ordei,
which they named animus, the soul of the world, the aniinit-
ing principle, ether. " Aristotle " (writes Cioero, TatevL
Quaeat. I. 22), " after having mentioned the fonr kinds of
material elements, believes that we ought to admit a
kind from wbicb the bobI proceeds ; for, since the soul ud
the intellectual faculties cannot reside in any of the materiil
elements, we must admit a fiftb kind, which had not yet re-
ceived a name and which he a^les erdeUchy; that is to mj,
eternal and continued movement" The four material ele-
ments of the ancients have been dissected by modem analyu
The fifth is perhaps more fundamental.

Citing the philosopher Zeno, the same orator adds that tlai
wise man did not admit this fifth principle, which might Is
compared to fire. But, from all the evidence^ fire aaJ
thought are two distinct things.

EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESES 461

Virgil has written in the JEneid (Book VI) these admii^
able verses which are known to everybody:

Principio cesium ac terras camposque liquentes
Lncentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molsm^ et magno ae corpore miscet

Martianns Capella, like all the authors of the first cen-
turies of Christianity^ mentions this directive force^ also
calling it the fifth element, and furthermore describes it un-
der the name " ether/'

A Boman emperor, well known to the Parisians, since it
was in their city (in the palace built by his grandfather near
the present Thsrmes, or old Roman baths) that he was pro-
claimed emperor in the year 360 (I mean Julian, called the
Apostate), celebrates this fifth principle in his discourse in
honor of the ^^ The Sun, the Monarch," * styling it sometimes
the solar principle, sometimes the soul of the world, or in-
tellectual principle, sometimes ether, or the soul of the phys-
ical world.

This psychical element is not confoimded by the philoso-
phers with God and Providence. In their eyes, it is some-
thing which forms part of nature.

One more word before closing. Human nature is endowed
with faculties as yet little explored, that the observations
made with mediums, or dynamogens, bring to light —
such as human magnetism, hypnotism, telepathy, clair-
voyance, and premonition. These unknown psychic forces
are worthy of being embraced within the scope of scientific
analysis. At present they have been almost as little studied
as in the time of Ptolemy, and have not yet found their Kep-

* See the Complete Works of the Emperor Julian, Paris, 1821. Vol.
I. p. 375.

-r -IT

• ■ — ~" ■ — ' -^ T i; "He'll ■ c_'*' 1

'^ « ' ^

EXPLANATORT HYPOTHESES '453

tneni the essential nature of which is still hidden from us.
I shall he happy for mj part, if I have helped to estahlish
by these two works the above important principle, exclu-
sively based upon the scientific verification of certain phe-
nomena Btadied l^ the experimental method.

■1:

[ ■ -

:
I

INDEX

kcademy of Sciences, iU •oeptidBm xvi, 19, inveetigfttee AngeUcft Cottin,
224 et 9eq.

Lcoustic MediumUtic Phenomena,— Caies of, 71, 73, 89, 96, 112, 121,
144, 163, 167, 183, 274, 292, 299, 369, 373, 374, 378, 380.

Lkeakof, Alexander, 63, 161, 178; cited, 55, 66, 188, 435; hia ac-
count of alleged ipirit communication regarding eatellitce of
Uranui, 50-52.

Jbert the Great, zxi.

Jeofribax Nazier, anagram signature of Rabelais, q.v.

Iterations in weight of bodies in mediumistic phenomena (including
▼ariations in scales without contact), 88, 153, 173, 199, 354, 413,
414.

nimism vs. Spiritism, 187 et seg.

.ntoniadi, M., report on E. Paladino, 109-111.

ipparitions, 419. See aleo, Materializations.

ipports (objects brought in from outside the stance room), 99, 112,
186, 187, 292, 373, 378, 380.

Lrago, 178; investigates Angelica Oottin, 223; alleged spirit com-
munication from, 389.

iristotle, quoted, 450.

Lrmelin G., report on E. Paladino, 103-109.

iscensi M., 143.

istral body, 166.

tstronomical discoveries, xvL

LUtomatic writing and drawing, theories of, 26-30, 58 et aeq.; — methods
of, 28; by Victorien Sardou, 25, 46;— by Camille Flammarion, 26,
47-49; reflect the thoughts of the experimenter, 49 ei •eq.; by
children, 274; other cases, 384-387.

zam. Dr., 141;— Felida's case, 59.

abinet, M., 266; report on Angelica Cottin, 224-227; de Gasparin's

criticisms of, 260-265.
acl«, Louis ("Louis Elb^**), 368.

aschet, R6n6, 34, 98, 101, 103, 128; arms partial materialization, 181.
asilewska, M. and Mme., 98, 101.
ianchi, M., 147.

455

456 MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Binet, Alfred, 188.

BiMchofsheim, Mme., 101.

Blech family, hold ■ittings with E. PaUdino, 69-84, 17S.

Bloch, Andre, 84, 93, 101.

BoU, Jules, 84, 103, 128, 203.

Boiftseaux, Mme., 173.

Boissier, Edmond, 27*

Bourrer, M., 141.

Boutignjr, M., 114.

Br^dif, C, medium, 196.

Brisson, Adolphe, 95, 98, 101, 103, 114, 128, 200, 203; report on £.

Paladino.
BriMon, Mme. A., 93, 95, 101, 103, 114.
Buffern, Prof., 151.
Buguet, medium, 196.
Burot, 141.

Cactoni, M. and Mme., 368.

Calonne, xvi.

Castex-IVpraiirro, M., 437; reports of mediumistic phenomena, 381-3W.

Clinrcot, Dr., 4.

C'hardon, Dr. Ik'uuniont, notes on Angelica Cottin, 223.

Che\igny, (ounlt'sa de, 101.

Cbevreui, M., 266.

Chiaia, Prof. K., first obtains impressions in clay through Paladino, 78;
challenges Iximbroso to investigate Paladino, 136.

Cicero, quoted^ 450.

Claretie, Jules, 45, 98; report on E. Paladino, 98-101.

Coleman, Benjamin, 334.

Cook, Florence, medium (afterwards Mrs. Elgie Corner), remarktU«
case of materialization, 334; investigated by Crookes, 335-347.

Cottin, Angelica, the Electric Girl, 219; Dr. Tanchou's report of, 220-
222; notes of M. Ilebert, 222; Dr. Beaumont Chardon, 223; Acad-
emy of Sciences investigates, 224-227.

Coues, Dr. and Mrs. Elliott; report on mediumistic phenomena, 401-405.

Crookes, Sir William, 65, 121. 196, 297, 305, 358; his experiments in
psychical research, 306-347; his mechanical contrivances for test-
ing such phenomena, 308, 318, 319, 322, 323; his views in 1896,
347-351 ; his theory regarding such phenomena, 408.

Crystal vision, 292.

Cumberlandism, 171.

Curie, Pierre, 360.

Daguerre, an anecdote of, 11.

INDEX 467

Dariez, Dr., 63, 173, 218, 368; cited, 3, 210; his opinion of fraud in

mediums, 203-205.
D'Arsouval, Prof., 360.

Darkness as a factor in psychical phenomena, 10-13, 68, 89.
Davenport Brothers, the, xi, xiii, xiv, xxi.
Delanee, G., 84, 98, 101, 375.
Delfour, Abbe, cited, 398.

Delgaiz, Raphael, Husband of Eusapia Paladino, 67.
Desbeaux, Emille, 173.
Dialectical Society of London, its organization, 289; its experiments in

psychical research, 291-302; Huxley declines to join, 290; Flam-

marion's letter to, 302-304.
Divination of Numbers, 240, 249 et 8eq,
Double Personality, an hypothesis for spiritistic communication, 58 et

9eq,; Dr. Pierre Janet's studies in, 60.
Drayson, Gen. A. W., on solution of scientific problems by Spirits, 50

et seq.; errors of, 53, 55.
Duclaux, E., 438.
Du Prel, Dr. Charles, 151.
Dusart, Dr., 289.
I)ynamic theory of matter, 427.

Islington, medium, 196.
Ephrussi, M., 101.
Ermacora, Dr., 151.

Faith not a necessity in psychic phenomena, 279.

Faraday, 188, 259, 262, 266.

Felida, case of double personality, 59.

Finzi, M., 151.

Flammarion, Camille, some scientific researches of, vi; early writings
on Unknoum "Natural Forces, xi; experiments with Eusapia Pala-
dino, 5-23, 63-134; acquaintance with Allan Kardec, 24 et §eq,;
autohatic writing by, 26; delivers funeral oration of Kardec, 30;
experiments with Mme. Huet, 36 et eeq.; letter to London Dia-
lectical Society, 302-304; his "General Inquiry" concerning unex-
plained phenomena, 376; some specimen cases, 377-405.

Fluidic action, theories of, 166, 179, 253, 258, 282, 422, 427.

Fluidic projection of limbs, etc. See Materializations.

Fontenay, Guillaume de, 3, 21, 84, 95, 368; participates in Paladino
sittings, 69-83, 123; his dynamic theory of matter, 427-431.

Foucault, M., 264.

Fourth dimension, 420.

Fourton, Mme., 93, 95, 98, 101, 103, 114, 128, 202.

KYSTIX30C3 PSYCHIC fOfiC£S

r ta^Mri «^Mi^H

. ItaBT* «■»■» w. 3M, 27*, tun

k, aAvii ^K* «^HMMiM < tt^ •« Hf.

^ T^W. «L 2SX. MX.

INDEX 469

Impressioiis in plastic substances, 420; photographs of, 76, 138; cases of,

22, 74-78, 158, 163, 184.
Institute, its disregard of papers on table-movements, 263.
Invisible hands, action of, 418. See aUo, Acoustic phenomena, and

Materializations (tactile).
Intelligence manifested in mediumistic phenomena, 421.

James, Prof. William, 305.

Janet, Dr. Pierre, 60, 188.

Joncidres, Victorin, 437, reports mediumistic phenomena, 378-381.

Joubert, M., 37, 42.

Jouffroy's invention of the steamboat, xvi.

Julian the Apostate, cited, 451.

Jupiter, Sardou's drawings of landscapes in, 25, 45.

Kardec, Allan, his society for spiritualistic study, 24; death of, 30; his

funeral oration by Flammarion, 30-32.
Kepler, 55.
King, John, alleged spirit control of E. Paladino, 71, 78, 141, 169; a

psychic double of Paladino, 166.
King, Katie, a materialized spirit, 141; appears to Florence Cook and

others, 334; investigated by Crookes and other scientist, 335-346;

Home's opinion of her, 343.

Labadye, Countess de, 103.

Lacroix, medium, 196.

Laplace, 51.

Lateau, Louise, stigmata of« 20l

Laurent, M., 101.

Lebel, M.« 218.

Le Bocain, M., 114; report on £. Paladino, 116-118.

Le Bou, Dr. Gustave, report on £. Paladino, 101-103.

Lemerle, M., 368.

LeVerrier, 213.

Leymarie, Paul, 218.

Levitations, 5-8, 33, 79, 80, 118, 414-416; photographs of, 6, 83, 156,
368; denied by one sitter, 132; the flour test of 1. without contact,
247, 248; cases of, 6, 17, 70, 73, 74, 83, 88, 91, 93, 94, 96, 99, 104,
105, 111, 113, 114, 144-147, 154-156, 160, 164, 167, 174, 180, 183-87.
204, 229, 232, 236, 238, 239, 240-248, 292, 354, 357, 364, 368-370,
373, 379, 380, 403.

JAvj, Arthur, 200; report on £. Paladino, 86-02.

JAvy, Mme. A., 200.

Levy, J. H., 289.

< 74^ 07. IMb IM^ Ittb i4i^

imtlSs

etc^ 121 flf lif.

ICi.

mMim of AllRd de Mi
Ej cf fmidk prajerCMB of
:«!. lJi<L fftS. Ca«i of:

a Tact3<:— cf kMi» or anv, 71. 73, ». 97, 98, 101, lOS-
14«c ::i. III. ll«-llft. 124. 14«. 148. 199, 197, 174, 181, 181, 2M,
X:i. 174: cf kadK 71. 9>. 113. 181, 177. 187, 371.

.%• T:szHX:— of kuds oBd orm, 10, 73, 119, 159, 17S, Itf,
SK: of ^Mii oBd bom. 21. 72, 115, 128» 177, 185, 399; of e»
fiH9 Jkcm. - Katie Kii^,'' 334^349.
-SL G«o^f«k 93^ 101, 299: nyofft oa E. Polodmo, 111*114.
P. F, 37.
3fiuer puB^ tlutM^ McnBr, ow Solid.
ICaxvtll. Dr. Jowpk. 93, 172. 173. Eztncta fran hii JTWtjgiHni,

390^395; kis cfuioBi. 4ia
M««iis»i^ fkfotiiy of profeonoaoL 3, 207; tbrir coaoaooB oBd umoi-
iccopuooL, 4; SK of IW vord. 5: their wiU mad iMoltk M
14; ptcniAi7 tf ploliw of, 157. 8e$ ate, Br«dit Flor
ewe Cook. Aa^lico OottiB, D^veaport broCken, Egliagtoa, Fox bi-
fcsiL Dtaiel D. Hobk, Mim. Haet, Allaa Kmrdee, A. F^ti, E.

Rotke, Soaikor, Sade, Mn. Williaaio, Mme. X.

a ckapCer ia pkjaiei, 2; cffecCa of aatipatkj

o/ bj slaadcrs. 15; geaaiacaeoa of. 21, 184; rcAoetioaa apoa tkoit

cf Faladiac, 119 ef Mf.; csperiBcaU witk ao acoordioa, 121 et mq,;

of BiagacCiai ratker tkan hypnotismi, 199; mlwajri of

INDEX 461

ptjtlio-plijrietl luiiiirci 166; hypoihesb of fluidie double (attral
body), 166, 179; fraud in, 194 ei 9eq.; agency is in the person, not
in the object, 254; mechanical testa of, by Prof. Thury, 269 et 9eq,;
by Sir William Crookea^ 306 ei aeg.y unconscious muscular action
considered, 280; no indications of electricity in, 281; experiments
of London Dialectical Society, 291-303; Sir William Crookes' ex-
periments, 306-347; his opinions of, 347-361; investigations of
Alfred Russel Wallace, 363-359; of Dr. J. Maxwell, 359-368; of
other scientists, 368-375; popular ignorance of, 406 et aeq.; re-
capitulation of scientist's theories regarding, 408; re-
capitulation of phenomena with Flammarion's comments, 411-423
et eeq.; subliminal consciousness as a factor in, 433 et eeq. Dr.
▼on Hartmann's hypothesis, 435; Aksakofs reply, 435; of mixed
character, 438. See aUo, Acoustic phenomena. Alteration in
weight, Apparitions, Apports, Automatic writing, Fluidic Ac-
tion, Impressions, Invisible hands, Levitations, Luminous phe-
nomena. Materialisations, Movement of objects. Ordeals, Predictions,
Raps, Solid passing through solid. Spirit communications. Spirit-
ualism, Thermal radiations, TjpMogj, TouchingSy Writing pro-
duced at a distance.

M^ry, Gaston, 84, 95, 375.

Miller, American medium, 875.

MilM, Prof.« 368.

Mind, action of, upon matter, 288 ei eef., 366«

Moli^re, xlv., quoted, 264, 265.

Montaigne, 1.

Morgan, Prof., 297-359; accepts Spiritistic theory, 400.

Morselli, Prof. Enrico, 188; investigates E. Paladino, 177-192.

Mouchez, Admiral, 197, 213.

Mouzay, Countess de, 211.

Movements of natural objects, in mediumistic phenomena, 411-416; eases
of, 9, 17, 70-74, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95-99, 105, 106, 108, 100, 111-114,
125, 126, 144, 147, 148, 156, 157, 163, 165, 167, 176, 176, 181-183,
185, 187, 234, 237, 271, 274, 275, 293, 295, 297, 299-301, 353, 354»
358, ^9, 869, 370, 871, 373| 378, 882, 383, 398, 399, 403.

Musset, Alfred de, 398.

Myers, F. W. H., 63, 162, 305, 3B0, on Subliminal Consoiooaasiay 438,
434.

Newton, cited« 19.
Kus, Eugene, 61, 441.

Ochorowicz, Dr. Julien, 63, 162, 188; his studies of Enaapia Paladino,
76-78; his eondurions, 166, 409; condemns the rejection of Paladino

rt ft Hi

» .'c-KT-nw-L-s «- )«niw. '.'fi^ -f? ITT- ter n mn ci wi. t^cir reuow aal
:h-b. ?%. i%?r «-t>if=:^«iin» -ix Au^KOML 3*7. Efforts m b«r

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\* %^ X -.«;.' .^ JL-BMS2& :n-:w x. .^xcsBftfi. im^nu x.

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^*. **^, ■ ifc -P^fc '-W. "** -*>. 513^
'^ V ^ >^ < K< ^ta> n 'vftt.'nnk nr««KQi «w bat i sf«sra ' , 9. 17, 71-
%. ^ %. « V. fo-J8. ^5. :W. :«!. jW. 111-114. 12Sl 131

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.^•ia*^itR^ *. K ^1, ^. *^ «. % >L KL M. IC ML 1«C lt5»

Sf. MIF. :♦*. IfT. 174. 1S«. 15J-

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4l|)iK9^ X'lM^'IC 3K

INDEX 463

(e) Alteration in weight of bodies and variation in weighing appa-
ratus without contact, 88, 153, 173, 191.

(f) Thermal radiations, 115, 117, 125, 186.

(g) acoustic phenomena (sounds other than raps q.v.), 71, 73, 89, 96,

112, 144, 163, 167, 183, 209, 210.
(h) writing and marks produced at a distance, 167.
(i) impressions in plastic substances, 22, 74-78, 158, 163, 184; photo-
graphs of, 76.
(j) luminous phenomena, 74, 97, 105, 108, 125, 148, 186, 199.
(k) trance speaking, 71, 160.
(1) Materializations.

(I) Tacti]e,~of hands and arms, 71, 72, 89, 97, 98, 101, 106^
108, 111, 113, 116-118, 124, 146, 148, 160, 167, 174, 181,
186; of heads, 73, 89, 115, 161, 177, 187.
(n) visible,— of hands of arms, 10, 73, 116, 159, 175, 185;
of heads and busts, 21, 72, 115, 128, 177, 185, 366.
(m) a solid passing through a solid substance, 107, 128.
(n) cases apparently produced by fraud, 200.
Palotti, M., report on E. Paladino, 114-116.
Palotti, Mme.« 114.
Pelletier, M., 220.
Penta, Dr., 147.
Phaedrus, quoted, xx.
Phalansterians, the, 61, 443.
Phantoms, 419, see also Materializations.
Plautus, xiv.

Politi, Auguste, mediums, his phenomena, 368-371.
Poggenpohl, M. de, 373, 374.

Porro, Francois, report on E. Paladino, 177-192; his theories, 409.
Predictions, 293, 384, 385.

Psychical research, utility of, v, viii, 2, 30-32; the sceptic's attitude to-
ward, vii; ignorance of critics of, xii, xv; scientists unwilling to
recognize phenomena, 18-20; value of cumulative testimony in, 191;
necessity of eliminating fraud in, 194; society for, 305.
Psychological Institute invites £. Paladino to Paris, 3.

Rabelais, 1 ; alleged spirit communications from, 38-40.

Radioculture, vi.

Raps {see aUo, Typtology), their connection with sitters, 22; hypotheses
for, 35; Dr. J. Maxwell's Studies of, 360-364; recapitulation of,
416-418; cases of, 8, 13, 17, 75, 105, 144, 145, 147, 175, 232, 244,
292, 297-301, 353, 357.

Ravachol, alleged spirit communication from, 213.

Regnard, quoted, 101.

Mft MYSTERIOUS PSYGHIO FOBCES

Dr. Ctaita, t,9i,U,H,n,U, »1. 1«E; 17«p 10^ iM; Hi
fai JJgim» S7ft; Ui ttmy, #M.
Aftnt dm, 9$, $^ U, im^ tn^ WM^ JtBj cMilk
ISib in, 18«» ItS; Ui tkMkiyMI^

IML

1«L

.▲,€1,171.

lii ptamMam S71-J7C
178» m» MB; carfy ■MinBihtk et p cil aiee i ol, SS;
to Jdn Cluiti^ 45; npoft €■ S. PriadiMb •fr-M; puiid-

< O^ 81; Ul. 178» lf4; fcller r^SU^U^ >> FdaAiaiiM.

)L 4i^ lOL
Dr^ 334.

SMfvkk. Pn^ HcvT. 305.

StaBiridikl, M. de. 1C2: quoted, 163.

SuuKm, Mr. Md Mn. FrankliB, 368.

SMI Ike afmAat, mikiped tpirit communkatioB from, 21S«

Stadf. HoiTT. BcdiuB, 66, 420; bis fraad, 196.

Swntts. Til

S«lid pMKi^ throng • acdid, cases of, 107, 128, 372; — a utanl
fsnUrL 130.

S«^V^«v«1^ INtroro* des c ribe s Sambor's pbcnomena, 371-374.

SiwI. tW. IX. Si. 178. 188. 439, 452.

^rii cMsauaMiioB*. 384-389; ciroaeous, 51, 52, 57; tee dUo, Auto-
matic vritia^. Rsps, TVaace^peaking.

S^snlsslmi (»pirits«i). 194; its immateriality in psjdiical research,

nu W: bas WTsr taogbt a^jtbing new, 26, 436; not proven by

^ladiBQ pbenoaMsa. 166: dilemma between animism and, 188, 435;

^m'^ cftinion of its relation to Paladino, 190 et 9eq,; de Gii-

faring ai iLumtts agaiait, 285; Tburr's commmts on, 285 ti mq,;

Sfiritmie bjpMbesis aerepted bj Cromwell Varley, 305, 409, by

WalbMe. 4^. fey Prof. Morgan, 409; spirits not necessarily souls

«d dMd. 431: still a working bypotbesia^ 439; 447; aignments

a|B« ivt its piobabilitT, 439 H

;^|SHi»i^»tri!Kx J«wpb« 368.

^i^rsmrt. rrvi. Balfe«r, 388»

S»wb> G iii f f » 56L

INDEX 1G5

SublimiDal consciousness, Myers on, 433, 434; Dr. Geeley's bypoihesia,

434; does not depend upon organism, 435.
6iilljr*Pnidhomme, 173.
BjMmoxa^ Mme., 101.

Table movements, 411-413. See also, Levitation and Movementa of
Natural Objects.

Taine, quoted, 58.

Tamburini, M., 144.

Tanchou, Dr., report on Angelica Cottin, 219-222*

Tapp, Mr., 345.

Taton, M., 368.

Telekinesis, 61.

Thermal radiations (sensations of heat or cold in mediumistic phenom-
ena), 115, 117, 125, 186.

Thury, Marc, his researches into physical phenomena, 26(V-287; hit
experiments, 269-276; his theories, 276-287, 408.

Touchings in mediumistic phenomena, 418. See also, Materialixations
(tactile).

Trance speaking, cases of, 71, 160, 293.

Typtology (intelligible communications by raps), code for, 8; results
generally tally, knowledge of the experimenters, 14, 37, 57; appar-
ently an extension of hand and brain, 33; received through Mme.
Huet, 37 et seq,; answers to unknown questions evidently guess-
work, 240; specimens of, 38-43, 70, 80, 114, 147, 203, 212, 237,
292, 293, 297-301, 355, 356, 380, 403, 437. See also. Raps.

Unknown natural forces, v, xvii, 1-23, 2, 18; extracts from Flam-
marion's monograph on, xi-xxi; evinced in E. Paladino's phenom-
ena, 80, 192; hypotheses regarding, 81, 406 et seq,; danger of too
great scepticism against recognition of, 188 et seq,; not the ex-
clusive property of mediums, 442.

Uranus, the satellites of, spiritistic communications regarding, 50-67.

Vacquerie, Charles, 213.

Varennes, M. and Mile, de, 95.

Varley, Cromwell F., 291, 297, 359; accepts spiritistic hypothesis, 305,

409.
Vignon, Louis, 98, 101.
Virchow, cited, 20.
Virgil, quoted, 451.
VizioU, M., 143.
VolUire, 1.

466

MYSTERIOUS PSYCHIC FORCES

Wajtner, Prof., 162.

WbIIiut AUml Ru«H-l, 05, ZOO, VOl, 437 ; aecepU •piriUstic tbeory, 40(

Wb11cv1I1«, Haton da, U3, 173, 218;— his inveatigRtiona of iii«<liuiiu«f

pbcDuiDciia, 3a3-3&9.
Wrber. A.. 372,
WpllemlwrK, M., t!ia.

Will, tbv, iU inDuence upon pIiiDomvuii. 273 it aeq., SOS.
Wllllomi, Ml*., mviliuin, 2IS, 21U.
Wolf. M.. Sl».
WriUDK and tiiBTks produmd at ■ dliiunofi, 107, 3r>U, 371, 373, 3T9.

X., Mme., m*(liumlBllv («>nn with, ZU-SIO.

Zano, dlcil, 450.

ZUIIner, ITol., (1(1, ITH, IIHI, AiO.

ijCl 1